Former Arsenal hero explains ‘awkward’ dynamic between two stars who ‘didn’t really speak’

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Arsenal are set to face West Ham today, and they may come up against former goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.

Although a fringe player for most of his Arsenal career, Fabianski made himself a hero in his final season as he helped Arsene Wenger’s side win the FA Cup, with penalty shootout heroics in the semi-final proving vital.

It was never plain sailing for the former Poland International at Arsenal, as he competed with Jens Lehmann, Manuel Almunia, Wojcieich Szczesny and Vito Mannone over the years.

He then departed after the cup final in 2014, joining Swansea City and later West Ham, and overall has made a very good Premier League career for himself.

Fabianski has now shared further insight into the dynamics of the Arsenal goalkeeper union upon his arrival.

Fabianski confirms poor relations between Lehmann and Almunia

There was always a sense that Lehmann, who was the goalkeeper for the Invincibles side, and Almunia, who was his backup before eventually becoming number one, had a poor relationship with each other, and Fabianski has now told Ben Foster on the Fozcast that the pair hardly spoke.

Foster asked Fabianski if he would have seen the “little dynamic” between the pair, referring to their reported strained relationship, and the West Ham star was quick to respond.

“That wasn’t a little dynamic, that was a proper dynamic!” He stated of the two goalkeepers.

“For me, because I was still young, and the relationship I had before in Poland with any other goalies was always decent, then suddenly I’m in this position where I’m looking at two completely different characters.

“They didn’t really speak to each other. It was so awkward. It was a big, big learning experience.”

Arsenal’s difficult goalkeeping dynamics

Almunia was a vastly underwhelming goalkeeper for Arsenal, and the dynamics between him and a club legend in Lehmann did not help him at all.

In any team, it can be difficult for the goalkeepers as they are competing for one spot in the team, and Aaron Ramsdale has found that out the hard way this season after being dropped for David Raya.

Ramsdale and Raya have both claimed they have a good relationship with each other, which is a far cry from the days of Lehmann and Almunia.

Arsenal have not had goalkeeping dynamic problems as bad as it became between the pair before Lehmann departed, with Fabianski and Szczesny both competing with each other for club and country at one point before the former left, and was replaced by David Ospina on the bench.