Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown says Manuel Almunia deserves a chance with England.

Keown, who won 43 caps with England, told The Sun: "Without doubt Manuel Almunia is an outstanding goalkeeper and he would raise the bar if he came into the England set-up.

"He's on a par, if not better, than the goalkeepers that are there at the moment."

He added: "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."