Former Invincible not quite ready to walk away

Jens Lehmann puts retirement on hold to return to a fragile Arsenal squad

IT WAS February of last year and Jens Lehmann was teasing his small audience. We were in an office at Stuttgart's ground as the Germans prepared to meet Barcelona in the Champions League.

Lehmann was due to retire at the end of last season, so it was likely that, as it turned out, Barcelona would be his last high-profile European occasion.

Then he dropped in the words: "Look at Michael Schumacher."

It was an early warning of what Lehmann, then 40, might do if given half a chance. And now Arsenal have given him half a chance and he is back and Arsenal supporters long-dismayed by Arsene Wenger's attitude to signing goalkeepers at least have a smile on their face.

From unlikely beginnings Lehmann became an Arsenal man. He was 33 when he was signed by Wenger from Borussia Dortmund to replace David Seaman. That does not seem old now but it did then. He immediately became an Invincible and while his keeping and behaviour could be described at times as esoteric, Arsenal have not satisfactorily replaced him.

So now at 41 he goes onto the bench at West Brom as part of a fragile squad. He may yet be called upon to face Tottenham away or Manchester United at home. If so, Lehmann, never short of an opinion, may point out that he was born just 11 months before Edwin van der Sar.