Jens Lehmann snubs Thierry Henry and names surprise striker in his Arsenal dream team

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Jens Lehmann is one of Arsenal’s greatest-ever goalkeepers.

The German joined the Gunners in the summer of 2003 to replace David Seaman as the club’s new first-choice goalkeeper.

Lehmann played every single game in the Premier League that season, kept 15 clean sheets and helped Arsenal win the title without losing a single game.

Thierry Henry was the standout player in Arsene Wenger’s side that season, but the legendary Frenchman has not made Lehmann’s dream team. Nwankwo Kanu has.

Jens Lehmann names Nwankwo Kanu ahead of Thierry Henry in his dream team

Arsenal signed Kanu from Inter Milan in the summer of 1999 for just £4.5 million.

The Nigeria international was nowhere near Henry or Dennis Bergkamp’s level, but he was a terrific player on his day.

Kanu played 197 games for the Gunners over five years and directly contributed to 79 goals. His stunning hat-trick against Chelsea is still fresh in Arsenal fans’ minds.

Jens Lehmann and the Nigerian only played one season together. They were on the pitch at the same time on 20 occasions, of which just 10 were in the Premier League.

Yet, Kanu seems to have had a huge impact on the German goalkeeper as he has picked him over Henry in his dream six-a-side team.

The other outfielders Lehmann picked were Lauren, Ashley Cole, Robert Pires and Bergkamp. None of those names are real surprises – Kanu definitely is.

Jens Lehmann made another surprise pick in his dream team

Nobody would’ve expected Lehmann to name Kanu, whom he played just 20 times with, in his dream team ahead of Henry.

That, as we’ve already said, was a surprise, but another pick we just didn’t expect was in goal.

We knew that Lehmann wouldn’t pick Manuel Almunia because they hated each other, but the German choosing Graham Stack was not something we expected.

The English goalkeeper was on Arsenal’s books for a long time, having come through the academy, but he played just five games for the first team.

Yet, Lehmann picked him in goal ahead of everyone else, including himself.