New national team coach Fabio Capello will not exactly be spoiled for choices when it comes to handing out the number one jersey, and there is a growing clamour for Almunia to take on dual citizenship in order to be eligible for the Three Lions.
“Without doubt Manuel Almunia is an outstanding goalkeeper and he would raise the bar if he came into the England set-up,” said Keown.
“He’s on a par, if not better, than the goalkeepers that are there at the moment,” he added, referring to the error prone trio of Paul Robinson, Scott Carson and David James
“If you’re asking whether it’s morally right, well the national team has a foreign manager and this type of thing already goes on in other sports like cricket and rugby.
"So I’m not dead against him playing for England when he becomes eligible.
“At the moment the talk is a bit premature — he’s been outstanding for Arsenal but he’s only just wrestled the first-team jersey away from Jens Lehmann.
“But if the opportunity came up for him to play for England, I’d not have a problem with that. Spain don’t seem to want him so their loss would be our gain.”
Almunia himself has admitted that he would have a tough time saying no if Capello were to come calling. There will be no immediate action in any case, however, as he is still a year away from being eligible to become a British citizen.
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