Now at Lorient, where he is the starting goalkeeper at the age of 35, Vito Mannone also spent eight years at Arsenal.
Many Gunners fans will remember him for his sporadic appearances over the course of his time there, as he played 23 times for the Emirates side, conceding 27 goals and keeping six clean sheets.
The goalkeeper arrived at Arsenal aged 16, back when the likes of Dennis Bergkamp and Arsène Wenger were still around, for €500k from Atalanta’s U19s.
Mannone has always been grateful for what the London side did for him all those years ago, already thanking them in 2020 in an interview with L’Equipe, and he repeated himself as he sat down with Gianluca Di Marzio’s website to discuss his career to date.
What he didn’t appreciate, however, was having to go on loan to Hull City in 2010, a team he ended up returning to for the second half of the 2011-12 campaign.
Speaking of Wenger sending him there, he said: “I didn’t agree with this decision. Wenger was a great manager and a great person, but he also told me that he never understood anything about managing goalkeepers. Already with Lehmann and Almunia, it was a real proper battle in training.”
Since joining Lorient in the summer on a free from Monaco, the goalkeeper has conceded 19 goals in 16 games, keeping four clean sheets in the process.
