Jermaine Jones

Jermaine Junior Jones (born November 3, 1981) is a former professional soccer player who played as a defensive midfielder.

Jones is currently the head coach of Central Valley Fuego FC in USL League One.

Born in Germany to an American father and German mother, he came up through the German club system and represented Germany at the U21 and senior level.

However, he was not a regular in the team.

He later filed for a switch to the United States.

Jones started his youth career at SV Bonames, moving to FV Bad Vilbel in 1994, at 12.

In 1995, he was recruited by Eintracht Frankfurt to play in their academy.

He spent the next five years learning and building the quality of his game, and made his first appearance in the Eintracht Frankfurt II team in the 2000–01 season making 25 appearances and scoring eight goals.

He made the step up to the main squad in 2001.

Jones made 46 appearances for the Frankfurt senior team over two years in the 2001–2003 seasons, scoring seven goals as he was primarily played as a central defensive midfielder.

His good form at the time saw him purchased by Bayer Leverkusen.

First team chances were scarce though, so he played the majority of the 2004–05 Bundesliga season for Bayer Leverkusen II.

Jones re-signed for Eintracht Frankfurt on loan, barely six months after signing for Bayer Leverkusen.

He made fourteen appearances and scored three goals.

Before the start of the 2005–06 season, he signed a permanent deal with the Hesse based team.

However, during that season, Jones suffered a serious leg injury that required surgery, and was out of the game for eight months, only returning in the first half of the last game of the season.

Over the next two seasons, Jones shed his "teen idol" image, and established himself as a quality player and became captain of the squad.

In October 2006, he already had defended himself for turning down a contract offer, underlining he wanted to stay after all the management of the Eagles had done for him during his injuries.

This led to him joining Schalke 04.

In March 2007, Jones announced on the official Eintracht bulletin board that he would not extend his contract expiring at the end of the 2006–07 season.

This enraged many Eintracht supporters, as Jones canceled a contract negotiation with chairman Heribert Bruchhagen a few days before it was scheduled to take place.

The following three seasons at Schalke 04 were relatively mixed for Jones, with his career being hit further by injuries including a muscular hairline crack injury which kept him out of the team for the majority of the 2009–10 season.

However, he did enjoy his best stint playing regular games for the first time in his career playing 70 games in three seasons.

He made his debut for them in 2010 and played at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, scoring a notable goal against Portugal.

Jones was born in Frankfurt and grew up in the city district of Bonames.

His father is an African American former soldier for the U.S. Army who was stationed in West Germany and his mother is an ethnic German.

As a child, Jones lived in Chicago, Illinois and Greenwood, Mississippi, before his parents divorced and he returned to Germany with his mother.

The beginning of the 2010–11 season was again frustrating for Jones through lack of games, and after a falling out with team manager Felix Magath, he was sent to train with the reserves and made available for transfer.

On January 14, 2011, it was revealed that English Premier League team Blackburn Rovers were interested in taking Jones on loan with a view to making the signing permanent at the end of the season.

With Rovers player Vince Grella's time at Rovers blighted by regular injury, the club had been looking for a defensive addition for some time, and Jones was thought to be an excellent addition to a newly developed squad under new Rovers manager Steve Kean.

On January 15, Kean confirmed a deal would take place in the next week.

On January 18, 2011, it was confirmed by the club that Jones had signed on loan until the end of the season.

He made his Premier League debut on January 23, 2011, starting in a 2–0 home win over West Bromwich Albion at Ewood Park and completed the full 90 minutes, receiving the man-of-the-match award on his first appearance for the club.

On April 30, 2011, Jones put in another man-of-the-match display, playing the full 90 minutes in the derby game against Bolton Wanderers in a 1–0 win at Ewood Park.

On May 22, 2011, against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux, he completed the full 90 minutes in the last league match of the season in a 3–2 win for Rovers.

He made 15 Premier League starts for Rovers and picked up eight yellow cards in total, becoming a firm fans favorite in the process.

Following impressive performances with Blackburn, it was thought that he would extend his stay, but the two clubs could not agree a fee and he returned to Schalke 04 in July.

In 2011, Schalke 04 appointed a new manager Ralf Rangnick and the new coach announced that he would give Jones a chance to stay at the club and fight for his spot because his contract runs until 2014 and guarantees the midfielder €12 million.

Following his return from Blackburn, Jones became an integral part in defensive midfield and became an ever-present in the starting XI helping Schalke 04 fight for a Champions League berth and into the quarterfinals of the Europa League against Athletic Bilbao.

In the club's second leg match against FC Twente in the Round of 16 on March 15, Jones scored a goal and provided an assist for one of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's goals as Schalke 04 ran out 4–1 winners to overturn a 1–0 away defeat in the first leg.