Lehtinen has previously played for TP-Seinäjoki and was a youth player at English club Peterborough United.
He joined the Greek club Levadiakos FC in the Super League Greece in January 2009,[4] and joined FC Aarau in the Swiss Super League later that year after the Greek season had ended.
After only one season with IFK, he left the Mariehamn-based club and signed a five-year contract with SJK in Ykkönen.
The last years of his playing career, Lehtinen was in SJK Akatemia squad on a player-coach contract.
[5] On 12 January 2024, Lehtinen returned to Seinäjoki after he was named the manager of SJK first team.