Jermaine Pennant

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Jermaine Pennant

Personal information
Full name	Jermaine Lloyd Pennant
Date of birth	15 January 1983 (1983-01-15) (age 26)
Place of birth	Nottingham, England
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1]
Playing position	Right Winger
Club information
Current club	Real Zaragoza
Youth career
1993–1998	Notts County
Senior career1
Years	Club	Apps (Gls)2
1998–1999	Notts County	00 (0)
1999–2005	Arsenal	12 (3)
2002	→ Watford (loan)	09 (2)
2002–2003	→ Watford (loan)	12 (0)
2003–2004	→ Leeds United (loan)	36 (2)
2005	→ Birmingham City (loan)	12 (0)
2005–2006	Birmingham City	38 (2)
2006–2009	Liverpool	55 (3)
2009	→ Portsmouth (loan)	14 (0)
2009–	Real Zaragoza	00 (0)
National team3
2001–2004	England U-21	24 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:15, 10 July 2009 (UTC). 2 Appearances (Goals). 3 National team caps and goals correct as of 17:12, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Jermaine Lloyd Pennant (born 15 January 1983) is an English footballer who plays for Real Zaragoza. He signed for the La Liga side in July 2009 after his contract at Liverpool expired. He has previously played for Notts County, Arsenal, Watford, Leeds United,Birmingham City and Portsmouth.

He gained notoriety in 2005, when he had to play a match while on probation, wearing an electronic tag, following a drink-driving conviction.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Arsenal 3 Birmingham City 4 Drink-driving conviction 5 Liverpool 6 Portsmouth 7 Real Zaragoza 8 Personal life 9 Career statistics 10 Honours 11 References 12 External links

[edit] Biography

Born in Nottingham, Pennant is of Jamaican descent, but has opted to represent England internationally; although he has played at under-21 level, he has not played for the senior team.

[edit] Arsenal

Pennant was signed at the age of 15 by Arsenal from Notts County for £2 million, a record fee for a trainee at the time, but failed to fulfil his promise amidst a string of disciplinary problems. These included being sent home by England Under-21 coach Howard Wilkinson for breaking a curfew before an important game against Turkey, and being sent off for punching Niko Kranjčar in a game against Croatia under-21s. However, he did manage to make 24 appearances for the U21s in total, making him one of the five most-capped Englishmen at this level.

Pennant's career seemed promising following his move to Arsenal. He made his debut aged 16 years and 319 days against Middlesbrough in the League Cup on 30 November 1999, at the time making him Arsenal's youngest-ever first team player, beating Gerry Ward's long-standing record by two days; Pennant's record has since been surpassed by Cesc Fàbregas. He continued to make League Cup appearances over the next few seasons, but had to wait two-and-a-half years for his league debut, as a substitute against West Ham United on 24 August 2002 in the Premier League.

He scored a hat-trick on his full league debut, against Southampton in May 2003. However, these were also his only Arsenal league goals and he did not manage to secure a regular place in an Arsenal side that went on a run of 49 consecutive games without defeat. Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger appeared to have eventually lost patience with Pennant, who had a history of turning up late to training. Pennant spent spells on loan to Watford and Leeds United and it was at Leeds where he became noticed. He was one of the only highlights of Leeds United's dismal relegation season. Pennant became a Leeds fans favourite scoring fantastic goals against Chelsea and Charlton. Leeds fans were even offering their own money for United to sign him permanently.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Birmingham City

Pennant was loaned to Birmingham City for the 2004–05 season. In light of his drink-driving conviction, he signed for them permanently in April 2005. In the 2005–06 season, Birmingham City were relegated to the Championship (the second level of English football), and speculation grew that Pennant would leave the club.

[edit] Drink-driving conviction

On 23 January 2005, Pennant was arrested and charged with drink-driving after crashing his Mercedes into a lamp-post in Aylesbury, while serving a sixteen month driving ban and uninsured. Pennant pleaded guilty to drink-driving and driving whilst disqualified, and he was sentenced to ninety days in prison on 1 March.^[2] He was released on parole after 30 days and immediately returned to playing for Birmingham, although he had to wear an electronic tag at all times, including while on the pitch.

[edit] Liverpool

Pennant signed for Liverpool on 26 July 2006, on a four year contract for a fee of £6.7 million, potentially rising to £8 million with add-ons.^[3] It is understood that Arsenal will receive around 25% of the fee. After impressing in pre-season, Pennant made his Liverpool debut against Maccabi Haifa in a Champions' League 3rd round qualifying match at Anfield where he went on to win the fans' Star Man award.^[4] Such an impressive start to his Liverpool career has seen him being compared to his boyhood heroes John Barnes and Robbie Fowler.^[5] On 20 January 2007, he scored his first goal for Liverpool in their 2–0 home victory over Chelsea in the Premier League. Pennant would later go on to produce an excellent performance against former club Arsenal, playing a key part in three of the four goals the Reds produced as they won 4–1. After not being chosen for the England squad to play Israel and Andorra in March 2007, Pennant expressed the lack of recognition from England manager, Steve McClaren, as 'frustrating'.^[6] Pennant was critically acclaimed for his performance against AC Milan in the 2007 Champions League Final. Arguably one of the best players on the Liverpool team that night, Pennant made dashing runs on the right flank, and supplied a number of good crosses in towards the strikers.

Pennant started the 2007–08 season in the same fine form with which he had finished the previous season, putting in good performances on either flank as Liverpool surged to the top of the league table in the first month.^[7] He was however, again ignored by McClaren for the England team in their European qualifying matches against Israel and Russia, despite the backing of Liverpool manager Benitez.^[8] As Liverpool struggled to regain their good early season form following the international break, Pennant too could not maintain his excellent start to the season, culminating in a needless sending off—the first red card of his career—against FC Porto in Liverpool's opening Champions League match of the season. This was also Liverpool's first red card in five years in the Champions League. Pennant made his return from injury after being ruled out in November 2007 against Wigan, where he started the game and played until the 86th minute, when he was substituted for striker Dirk Kuyt. He scored his second goal for Liverpool against Newcastle on 8 March 2008 in a 3–0 win. He scored his third goal for Liverpool in the 2–0 away victory against Fulham on 19 April 2008.^[9]

[edit] Portsmouth

On January 20 2009 he left Liverpool F.C. to join Portsmouth on loan, where spent the second half of the 2008-9 season.

[edit] Real Zaragoza

Pennant was not offered a new contract by Liverpool following his return,^[10] and subsequently became a free agent when his contract expired on 1st July 2009.^[11] On 9 July, Pennant passed a medical and signed a three year deal at Real Zaragoza.^[12]

[edit] Personal life

Following a domestic disturbance in July 2007, Pennant was arrested for a Section 5 public order offence — using words or behaviour likely to cause distress — for which he had to pay a fixed penalty fine.^[13]

At Pennant's March 2005 drink-driving court case, it was revealed that he was illiterate.^[14]

Until January 2008, Pennant was dating Hollyoaks actress Jennifer Metcalfe.^[15] In October 2008, he became engaged to glamour model Amii Grove.^[16] However, the couple broke up and since early 2009, Pennant began dating Metcalfe again.^[17]

[edit] Career statistics

^[18]

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
England			League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1998–99	Notts County	Second Division	0	0
1998–99	Arsenal	Premier League	0	0
1999–00			0	0
2000–01			0	0
2001–02			0	0
2001–02	Watford	First Division	9	2
2002–03	Arsenal	Premier League	5	3
2002–03	Watford	First Division	12	0
2003–04	Leeds United	Premier League	36	2
2004–05	Arsenal	Premier League	7	0
2004–05	Birmingham City	Premier League	12	0
2005–06			38	2
2006–07	Liverpool	Premier League	34	1
2007–08			18	2
2008–09			1
Total	England		171	12
Career Total			171	12

[edit] Honours

Arsenal

Winner

• FA Community Shield: 2004
• FA Youth Cup: 2001

Liverpool

Winner

• FA Community Shield: 2006

Runner Up

• UEFA Champions League: 2006–07

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Thisisanfield.com player profile
• Official Liverpool profile
• Jermaine Pennant career stats at Soccerbase
• LFChistory.net player profile

v • d • e Real Zaragoza – current squad 1 López Vallejo · 2 Diogo · 3 Paredes · 5 Ayala · 6 Chus · 7 J.López · 8 Ewerthon · 10 Braulio · 11 Songo'o · 14 Gabi · 15 Pavón · 17 Caffa · 19 Arizmendi · 20 Generelo · 21 Zapater · 22 Pulido · 23 Ponzio · 24 Pignol · 25 Doblas · 26 Raúl Goni · 30 Zaparaín · 31 Adrià · 34 A. Herrera · — Lafita · — Matuzalém · — Pennant · Manager: Marcelino García Toral

Persondata
NAME	Pennant, Jermaine Lloyd
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Pennant, Jermaine
SHORT DESCRIPTION	footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	1983-1-15
PLACE OF BIRTH	Nottingham, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH