Today In History, Arsenal Signed Lehmann
On This day in the year 2003, Arsenal was said to have signed Jens Lehmann from Dortmund.
Jens Lehmann played every match and failed to lose a game in his debut season.
HISTORY
Lehmann joined Arsenal July 25 2003 as a replacement for David Seaman.
He played every match as Arsenal went unbeaten for the entire 2003–04 FA Premier League season.
He also became the first English club to accomplish this feat in the modern era.
Jens was the second to achieve this in the top tier of English football since Preston North End in the 1888–89 season.
However, Lehmann’s style of play, often coming out of his goal to intercept passes occasionally led to mistakes.
Mistakes in the title-winning match at local rivals Tottenham Hotspur where Lehmann pushed Tottenham striker Robbie Keane.
The pair waited for a Tottenham corner, and made a mistake that led to the equalising goal in Arsenal’s Champions League defeat at home to Chelsea the same season.
Arsenal continued unbeaten until 24 October 2004.
At the end of his first season at Arsenal, he had already played 54 times earning himself a Premier League winners medal at the end of the season.
Lehmann had an outstanding 2005–06 season with Arsenal, making his 100th Premier League appearance for the club in their game against West Bromwich Albion on 15 April 2006.
He was a key factor in his side’s first-ever accession to the Champions League final.
During their run Arsenal broke the record for the most consecutive clean sheets in the Champions League with ten.
He broke the record of seven that Milan had set just one year before.
ABOUT LEHMAN
Jens Gerhard Lehmann is a retired German footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
He was voted UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year for the 1996–97 and 2005–06 seasons, and was selected for three World Cup squads.
The player was a member of Arsenal’s Invincibles, playing every match of their famous unbeaten title winning season.
Lehmann holds the UEFA Champions League record for the most consecutive clean sheets, having not conceded a goal in 10 matches whilst at Arsenal.
After graduating from high school in 1988, he studied Economics at the University of Münster between 1992 and 1998.
In 1999, he married Conny, an elementary school teacher.
Lehmann later adopted Conny’s son with footballer Knut Reinhardt, Lasse. The pair also have two children Mats (born 2000) and Lieselotta (born 2006).
