Alex Manninger

Infobox Football biography
playername = Alex Manninger


fullname = Alexander Manninger
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1977|6|4
cityofbirth = Salzburg
countryofbirth = Austria
height = height|m=1.89
position = Goalkeeper
currentclub = Juventus
clubnumber = 13
youthyears = 1993–1994
youthclubs = Austria Salzburg
years = 1994–1996 1994–1995 1996–1997 1997–2002 2001–2002 2002 2003 2003–2005 2004–2005 2005–2008 2006–2008 2008 2008–
clubs = Austria Salzburg → Vorwärts Steyr "(loan)" Grazer AK Arsenal → Fiorentina "(loan)" Espanyol Torino Bologna → Siena "(loan)" Salzburg → Siena "(loan)" Udinese Juventus
caps(goals) = 001 (0)
005 (0)
023 (0)
040 (0)
024 (0)
000 (0)
003 (0)
000 (0)
019 (0)
016 (0)
064 (0)
000 (0)
001 (0)
nationalyears = 1999–present
nationalteam = Austria
nationalcaps(goals) = 030 (0)
pcupdate = 16:17, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 17:03, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Alexander "Alex" Manninger (born 4 June 1977 in Salzburg) is an Austrian football goalkeeper who plays for Juventus in the Serie A.

Club career

Early years

Manninger first played as a youth for SV Austria Salzburg. In the 1995–96 season he was sent on loan at Vorwärts Steyr, and played his first top-level game away against Grazer AK. After a strong performance in goal, Grazer decided to sign him as backup goalkeeper in summer 1996. Manninger's first match was a baptism of fire; after first-choice goalkeeper Franz Almer fell ill before a UEFA Cup second round game against Internazionale in autumn 1996, Manninger found himself making his debut in the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. He put in a strong performance and pulled off several high-quality saves as GAK narrowly lost 1–0. In the return leg, GAK won 1–0 to level the aggregate score at 1–1, but lost in the resulting penalty shoot-out.

Arsenal

After that, he remained first-choice for the rest of the 1996–97 season and was signed by Arsenal in June 1997 as cover for David Seaman. During the 1997–98 season Seaman suffered a long spell out injured and Manninger ably covered for him, enjoying a spell of six clean sheets in a row in the league, a joint-club record with Jimmy Ashcroft. The last of these was against Manchester United at Old Trafford, where Arsenal won 1–0, a result which helped them beat United to the 1997–98 FA Premier League title, thereby winning the player of the month award, a first for an understudy goalkeeper in the Premier League. However, Manninger had to make way for Seaman once the Englishman returned from injury.

Manninger continued to deputise for Seaman for the next three seasons, but without a consistent run in the side he was unable to maximise his potential. In all he made only 64 appearances over four seasons for Arsenal. After the Gunners bought Richard Wright in 2001, Manninger became number three at Arsenal, and spent the 2001-02 season on loan at Fiorentina, making 24 appearances. [cite news
title = Manninger completes Fiorentina switch
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/1470409.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2001-08-07
accessdate = 2008-06-16]

In July 2002 RCD Espanyol signed Manninger on a four-year deal for £960,000. [cite news
title = Manninger joins Espanyol
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/2043343.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2002-07-04
accessdate = 2008-06-16] However they released him just seven weeks later before he had made a first team appearance. Doubts were raised as to whether his transfer from Arsenal had been fully completed; [cite news
title = Espanyol release Manninger
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/2211811.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2002-08-23
accessdate = 2008-06-16] although Manninger claimed Espanyol didn't have the money to pay his fee. [cite news | url=http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_2258217,00.html | title=Alex breaks silence on Espanyol fiasco | work=Sky Sports ]

erie A

Manninger joined Torino in January 2003, [cite news
title = Manninger joins Torino
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/2658759.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2003-01-14
accessdate = 2008-06-16] staying there six months before joining Bologna in the summer. He spent two years with the club but unable to break into the first team he had a loan spell with Siena, before he rejoined Red Bull Salzburg (as they are now known) in 2005. For the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons he returned on loan to Siena, where he was first-choice goalkeeper.

At the end of the 2007-08 season he returned from his loan back to Red Bull Salzburg, but did not stay for long. In July 2008, Manninger moved back to Italy with Udinese, [cite news | url=http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/jul17a.html | title=Udinese move for Manninger | work=Football Italia ] but stayed with the club for only a few weeks before signing for Juventus as backup for Gianluigi Buffon. He is the second goalkeeper purchased by the Turin club during summer 2008, along with Antonio Chimenti, also from Udinese. [cite news | url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/news/kind=1/newsid=736943.html?cid=rssfeed&att=index | title=Manninger swaps Udinese for Juve | work=UEFA.com ]

International career

Manninger made his debut for Austria in an August 1999 friendly match against Sweden and was member of the Austrian Euro 2008 squad. He has so far (August 2008) earned 30 caps.

Honours

*English Premier League (1):
** 1998
*FA Cup (1):
** 1998

External links

* [http://www.juventus.com/site/eng/TAS_schedagiocatoreprimasquadra_D0980E889A01484A8C6BAE23B838391A.asp Player profile] - Juventus
* [http://www.euro2008.uefa.com/tournament/players/player=24161/index.html Player profile] - EURO2008
* [http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/player.php?id=498 Career stats] - National Football Teams

References