Manuel Almunia has given consideration to his future, but is unwilling to discuss his plans at present.
Gunners keeper reluctant to reveal his plans
Manuel Almunia has given consideration to his future, but is unwilling to discuss his plans at present.
It has been suggested that the Arsenal keeper will return to his native Spain in the January transfer window, having slipped down the pecking order at Emirates Stadium.
Lukasz Fabianski has emerged as Arsene Wenger's favoured option between the sticks, while another promising Pole, Wojciech Szczesny, staked his claim for a more regular role with a composed showing against Manchester United on Monday.
Almunia, who has been with the Gunners for six years, accepts that his time in North London may be coming to an end, with his agent revealing recently that the 33-year-old will consider his options in the New Year.
The experienced shot-stopper has now confirmed that he is close to deciding what his next move will be, but is reluctant to divulge the finer details of that choice for now.
"I have my thoughts, but I don't want to talk about them," he told the
Daily Star.
Painkillers
For now Almunia is focused on returning to full fitness following a couple of niggling knocks.
A twisted ankle is currently hindering his progress, but it was a sprained elbow suffered against West Brom in September that has seen him lose his place in the side.
Almunia picked up that knock in saving a Chris Brunt penalty and admits, looking back, he should have taken the sensible approach and gone off at the interval rather than battle on and make a couple of costly errors in a 3-2 defeat.
"I should have stayed in the dressing room," he said.
"But I wanted to continue. I took some painkillers and because I was warm I didn't feel anything."
