The manager is going to make his first press conference this season as the Gunners as set to take on Singapore Select XI tomorrow and as you’d expect from the journos, the boss will be asked a lot of questions ranging from err…you know the drift.
When he was asked about Carl Jenkinson, the manager had this to say,
Wenger: “I don't want to lose Carl Jenkinson, that's why I extended his contract” http://t.co/iytdgoujdk #BAT2015 #ArsenalSingapore
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 14, 2015
Jenkinson has been at the club since 2011 and has played a part-bit role as a right back. He replaced Emmanuel Eboue as Bacary Sagna’s understudy and got extended run-outs when the Frenchman suffered those long term leg injuries. With Sagna leaving for Manchester City, Jenkinson was hoping that the right back berth was his for keeps but Wenger signed an experienced replacement for Sagna in Matt Debuchy but like Sagna, Debuchy had been very unfortunate in his first season with the club, suffering two major injuries that saw him to lose his place to Calum Chambers, then Hector Bellerin.
With the Gunners having three competent right backs in the squad, one wondered what the future held for Jenkinson but the Gunners opted to loan Jenko out to West Ham and he gained a lot of experience, playing 32 of their 38 Premier League games.
According to the Daily Mail, Jenkinson has signed a new deal worth £45,000-per-week till June 2020. The article also reveals that Slaven Bilic has won the race to land Jenkinson this summer, beating Sunderland and Southampton in the race to take the defender on loan. It seems a bit strange to me though, bearing in mind that the Mirror published an article which revealed that the Gunners had reached an agreement with Sunderland over Jenkinson’s services.
With Debuchy aging and Bellerin hot on his heels, another loan move would be beneficial to Jenkinson because he’s clearly not in the manager’s plans for this season. Good luck to the lad in West Ham, or Sunderland, or wherever he’s going on loan. Bleeeh!
Elsewhere, West Brom are gearing up to make a loan bid for Arsenal speedster, Serge Gnabry (via the Mirror). Gnabry burst into the scene in the 2013/14 season and was influential in the 2-1 win over Swansea, a game he managed to get his first professional goal. The young German suffered a nasty knee injury last season and it sidelined him for the entire campaign but he managed to make his comeback against Newcastle Under-21s.
Gnabry’s progress has somewhat stifled and he’s not close to breaking into the first team anytime soon, so a loan move to West Brom would be beneficial to the player. It’s going to be interesting to see how things work out but I’m in full support of the youngster playing for West Brom.
Yaya Sanogo is another player that needs to prove himself elsewhere if he wants to make the grade at Arsenal. After playing six games for the Gunners last season, scoring his maiden goal for the club against Dortmund, he was loaned to Crystal Palace and he didn’t light any fireworks at Selhurst Park, scoring one goal in 11 games for the Eagles.
A couple of weeks ago, it was reported that Lille was interested in securing a loan move for the Frenchman but nothing materialized. The Independent has reported that Sanogo is close to securing a loan move to Ajax Amsterdam. I believe he could thrive in the EreDivisie but in all honesty, I’m not convinced about Sanogo’s ability. Yes, he has been good at Under-21 level for France and he scored a couple at lowly Auxerre in the French second tier but he shouldn’t be challenging for a first-term berth in an ambitious club like Arsenal.
We can only monitor his situation closely and we would see how things progress.
Sayonara.
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