Jens Lehmann has revealed that he rejected a potential move to Liverpool.
Lehmann was an integral figure of Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ team which went unbeaten through their entire Premier League title-winning season in 2003/04.
But the former goalkeeper’s new autobiography, serialised in the Daily Telegraph, sheds light on how he could have ended up joining the Reds instead.
In ‘The Madness is on the Pitch’, Lehmann tells Arsene Wenger’s comments in the wake of the Gunners’ 49-game unbeaten streak ending the following season.
As the former Germany international began to weigh up his future with the London club in the wake of a 2-1 reversal at Anfield in November that year.
Lehmann’s compatriot Dietmar Hamann suggested a possible move to Liverpool, only for the ex-Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan stopper to turn down the offer.
“It was my second-ever Premier League loss,” he wrote.
“And yet the manager comes up to me and says, ‘Jens, you’re not as fresh any more; you seem tired; I’m taking you out now. If you start having problems with your national team because of this, you may as well leave.’
“Naturally, I felt completely wronged and felt like going up the wall in my anger.
“I would not be bullied. I was no longer a single man who could pack his bags from one day to the next.
“My kids had finally settled into the country after a year and a half; I could not force yet another move onto them.
“On the very evening when I was pondering this, Didi Hamann phoned me; he was playing for Liverpool. ‘Listen, Jens,’ he said, ‘We need a new keeper.’
“That was certainly tempting, the perpetually terrible weather in Liverpool aside.
“But since I had been listening to my own thoughts so carefully earlier, I declined.
“‘No thanks, I want to keep trying to continue at Arsenal.’ And promptly, as if it were a sign, Manuel Almunia played poorly against Bolton Wanderers the next day.
“After another defeat match against Manchester United two weeks later too, I found myself back in goal.”