Signed in 2003, Jens Lehmann joined Arsenal at the peak of Arsène Wenger’s reign, as far as trophies are concerned.

The German goalkeeper joined a year after Wenger’s second double and didn’t lose in his first 47 Premier League appearances for the Gunners, but he now finds himself wondering whether or not Wenger should be challenged.

The Arsenal boss doesn’t, by any means, have an easy job. However, he does have the complete trust of everyone at the club.

“Wenger is the club. When I see him I say to him, ‘You have to be challenged from within the club.’ But he just laughs at me,” said Lehmann.

The goalkeeper was never averse to challenging anyone, his brash personality even led to clashes with his new team-mates when he arrived.

“At one of the first training sessions I had at the club, I was consistently arguing with Thierry Henry because he wasn’t running,” the man who arrived Borussia Dortmund said.

“Everyone else in the squad was just watching. They were waiting to see how it would all unfold. By the end of the session, he was running, though. My advantage was that I was older, more mature, I was successful before coming to England, so I didn’t care.

Imagine arriving in England, arriving at Arsenal, and then telling Thierry Henry to work harder.

It takes some doing, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Mad Jens was the guy to do it.

“Could he take it? He had to. If you are challenged for a reason, all of a sudden your teammates are going to look at you.

“So you have to do it so you won’t lose the support and standing in the team. He probably thought I was mad. But in the end, he ran. I was only asking him to run more and defend.”

Maybe, then, that is all Lehmann asks of Wenger. If he was challenged more, he would have to live up to something.

Talking about the manager, he also had this to say:

“I am not sure whether he liked seeing me arguing with the players, but he wasn’t sure about whether or not it should be stopped. For the sake of the success of the team, it was a fine line for him, not to interfere.

“He obviously saw it and knew that it was giving him some kind of success.”

And it did. Arsenal went unbeaten and won the title in Lehmann’s first season.

Maybe this current Arsenal side could do with a bit more friction, and a few more challenges.