West Ham have signed Arsenal reserve goalkeeper Manuel Almunia on a month's loan.
With Rob Green having been ruled out with a knee injury, Sam Allardyce took advantage of the Premier League loan window in order to snap up the Spanish 'keeper, who was once touted as a potential England goalkeeper having become eligible for dual nationality.Green, who has barely missed a league match since moving to West Ham from Norwich five years ago could be out for up to six weeks with cartilage trouble. Allardyce, speaking on whufc.com this afternoon said:
"It's a big 'thank you' again to Arsene Wenger and Arsenal for allowing us to get such a high-class and experienced goalkeeper to come in and fill-in for Robert for the time being.
"I think he hasn't had as many games at Arsenal as he would have liked so he wants to play first-team football at the end of the day.
"We hope that huge amount of experience he has had at Arsenal and the football he has played on a regular basis will stand us in good stead here at West Ham."
34-year-old Almunia - who could stay at the Boleyn for longer than the initial four weeks should Green fail to recover in that period and if all parties agree - is yet to make a single first taeam appearance for Arsenal this season, having been effectively replaced by Wojciech Szczesny.
Manuel Almunia: career stats in England
2004/05 Played 16 Conceded 14
2005/06 Pld 13 Con 10
2006/07 Pld 14 Con 13
2007/08 Pld 38 Con 32
2008/09 Pld 44 Con 38
2009/10 Pld 36 Con 39
2010/11 Pld 14 Con 16
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