Former Arsenal and Liverpool goalkeeper Alex Manninger sadly passed away at the age of 48 on Thursday when the Austrian’s car was hit by a train near Salzburg.
David Seaman pays tribute to Alex Manninger after his death (Image: John Marsh/EMPICS Sport/PA Wire)
David Seaman has said his “great friend” and former teammate Alex Manninger will be remembered as a “great player” in Arsenal history after his death at the age of 48.
Manninger, who played 64 games in five years at Arsenal and helped the Gunners win the Premier League and FA Cup in 1998, died in a car accident near Salzburg on Thursday morning.
According to Austrian news reports, Manninger’s car collided with a train at a railroad crossing on the Salzburg Regional Railway in Nussdorf am Haunsberg.
Manninger, who won 33 caps for Austria, was primarily Seaman’s understudy at Arsenal. However, he replaced the former England number one towards the end of the 1997-98 season and put in a series of impressive performances to help Arsenal win a double in Arsene Wenger’s first full season in charge.
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“This is shocking news,” Seaman, 62, told the Press Association. “I’m really sad and it’s hard to lose my mind.
“If you think about Alex Manninger, he was a great goalkeeper for us. He came in when it really mattered and helped us win the double.
“He did an amazing job. He was still young when he came into the first team. For a 20-year-old to come into Arsenal and play like that was really special.”
“He missed quite a few games due to injury. He played 13 games, kept a clean sheet in the important league game against Manchester United at Old Trafford in a 1-0 win, and saved a penalty in the FA Cup quarter-final against West Ham.
Seaman and Manninger both played for Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal (Image: Getty Images)
“The fans loved him and I have to admit it was doubtful whether I would return to the team or not. He was a big player for Arsenal.”
Manninger started his career at RB Salzburg and joined the Gunners from Glazer AK in June 1997 for a fee of £500,000, before leaving Arsenal for Espanyol in 2002.
He also spent time in Italy with Turin, Bologna, Siena and Juventus, where he won a Serie A winners’ medal, before joining Liverpool on a short-term deal in 2016, but did not feature in a game for the Reds.
Manninger won the Premier League title with Arsenal (Image: Allsport)
Seaman, who won three league titles and four FA Cups with Arsenal, said: “When you look at him, he’s very athletic, he’s got great spring, he makes great saves.
“He was very competitive against the standards he set for himself. He wanted to be the best and if he conceded a goal, he never shut up about it. He never stopped analyzing the goals he conceded, because of how good he wanted to be.
“He was also a great friend and, like me, a fisherman and we spent many hours together on the lake. My thoughts are with his wife and young family.”
Arsenal and Liverpool were among those to pay tribute to Manninger, who revealed in a recent interview that manager Jurgen Klopp persuaded him to sign for the Reds.
He told Gazzetta dello Sport: “It all started with a phone call. Jurgen knew everything about me. I had beaten the Dortmund team in Augsburg two years ago. (He) said: “I want that goalkeeper to be there. You saved everything against us that day. You have to do it for me too.”
“Even though I had never really played and I was 40 years old, it felt great to quit football and say goodbye to the fans in front of the Kop.”
