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by **ssss** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 7:31 am

Chance for wide-boy Pennant to move on

Clubs join race to sign winger Arsenal seem content to let go

Matt Scott
Thursday January 6, 2005
The Guardian

Jermaine Pennant dug out the ball from under his foot and, from the corner flag, contrived to swing in an improbable cross which gave Robin van Persie a golden shooting chance. The Dutchman missed his shot against Manchester City on Tuesday night and, with the headlines focusing on Arsenal's slip to seven points behind the league leaders Chelsea, Pennant's good work was hardly noted.

Pennant is used to such frustrations. It will be fully six years on Saturday since his £2m move from Notts County made him the most expensive teenager in English football history. On the basis that he has made only two Premiership starts for Arsenal, it was a gamble on a 15-year-old which backfired spectacularly for Arsène Wenger. Why, then, is he generating so much Premiership interest?

Pennant's contract expires in five months and, unlike for his team-mates Edu and Lauren, there has been no offer of an extension from Arsenal. Since the transfer window opened last Saturday he has had the right to sign a pre-contract agreement with any foreign club. Atlético Madrid, keen to provide Fernando Torres with the crosses he craves, head a list of overseas suitors.

Everton had a £1.5m bid for Pennant turned down last summer, and Birmingham, Liverpool, Middlesbrough and Tottenham are all monitoring his progress. At a time when the tactical fad is for 4-5-1 or 4-3-3, in which goalscoring wingers are prized possessions, Pennant could offer sides genuine width and penetration.

Yet still he makes little impact at Highbury. "We are a team who have a youth policy," said Wenger. "It is one thing having that and it is another thing putting them in. People say we want you to fight for the championship, we want you to integrate all the young players and we want you to win every game. It is very, very difficult."

Nevertheless, the likes of the 17-year-old Cesc Fábregas, the 20-year-old Mathieu Flamini and the 21-year-old Van Persie can point to CVs containing numerous Arsenal starts in a fraction of the time that Pennant has spent with the champions. Wenger still seems wary of the youngster's historical lack of application.

Pennant is aware of the weight of words when the Arsenal manager talks of his admiration for Shaun Wright-Phillips, the right-winger who scored for City in the 1-1 draw on Tuesday, saying: "I like his attitude."

Liam Brady, the head of Arsenal's academy, said in the Wenger biography The Glorious Game that Pennant "has only got himself to blame. He's not punctual enough, he was sent home from England [Under-21]. He has to demonstrate that he can handle that side of it as well, because Arsène has a lot of options to choose from."

Pennant feared that dismissal from the England Under-21s, after he broke a curfew before an international against Turkey in April 2003, would be the final straw for Wenger. "I know I have to change and this is probably the turning point," he said at the time.

A month later Wenger offered him a final chance, as a starter for Southampton's visit to Highbury, and he scored a hat-trick in a 6-1 demolition.

The following season was spent at Leeds, where he gained his first real top-flight experience with 34 Premiership starts. "Being a young lad with maybe a few hangers-on, it's easy to see where the pitfalls have arisen and why he strayed once or twice," Leeds's manager Kevin Blackwell said yesterday. "But he's a good lad, Jermaine.

"There are top Premiership clubs interested in Jermaine and those clubs don't go for people who are going to cause trouble all the time."

Wenger has five months to decide whether Arsenal remain among them.

by **Alanay** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 9:04 am

I think this lad is a very good player. Very quick but still a lot to learn. Good if we can get him cheap...like free transfer

by **Paul C** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 9:29 am

I would welcome a move for Pennant as he is a very lively player and can score goals, he did well at his spell with Leeds

by **Alanay** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 9:36 am

Still remember the goal he scored against us!

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