Jermaine Pennant

Jermaine Lloyd Pennant (born 15 January 1983) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger.

Pennant made over 350 league appearances for 15 clubs, and scored 25 league goals.

Born in Nottingham, Pennant played for his local side Notts County as a teenager.

He earned promising reviews in the youth team at County and Arsenal signed him in 1999.

He struggled to make much of an impact at the North London club and spent time on loan at Watford, Leeds United and Birmingham City before joining the latter permanently.

While an Arsenal player, he won 24 caps for the England under-21 team.

He made his debut aged 16 years and 319 days against Middlesbrough in the League Cup on 30 November 1999, making him Arsenal's youngest-ever first team player, surpassing 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 2 1⁄2 years for his league debut, as a substitute against West Ham United on 24 August 2002 in the Premier League.

At first, Pennant became homesick.

After that subsided, he began to get sick from not playing.

It affected him greatly.

Between 2002 and 2004, Pennant spent time on loan at Watford and Leeds United.

He played for Arsenal for seven years and only made five starts, including a hat-trick on his full league debut against Southampton on 7 May 2003.

Pennant received regular first-team action at Leeds, who were relegated at the conclusion of the 2003–04 season.

Pennant was loaned to Birmingham City for the second half of the 2004–05 season.

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

Following Birmingham's relegation in 2006, Pennant signed for Liverpool for a fee of £6.7 million.

He won the 2006 FA Community Shield and also played a vital role in the club's run to the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final, where Liverpool lost 2–1 to Milan.

However, off-field problems continued to affect Pennant and consequently led to him being left out of the side.

He joined Portsmouth on loan before leaving to join Spanish side Real Zaragoza in 2009.

His time in Spain was overshadowed by disciplinary problems.

He returned to the Premier League for the 2010–11 season signing on loan at Midlands club Stoke City.

Following a successful loan spell, he signed a permanent contract at Stoke in December 2010.

He played in the 2011 FA Cup Final, Stoke losing 1–0 to Manchester City, and also played in the UEFA Europa League the following season.

Pennant fell out of favour with Tony Pulis in 2012–13 and spent time out on loan at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

With his Stoke career looking to be coming to an end, new manager Mark Hughes gave Pennant a new contract.

However, after failing to make an impact, he left Stoke in January 2014.

He then spent time playing in India with Pune City before returning to England to sign a short-term contract with Wigan Athletic.

In January 2016, he signed a one-year deal with Singapore S.League club Tampines Rovers.

Pennant returned to England once more signing for EFL League Two side Bury, before retiring in non-league football with Billericay Town in 2017.

Pennant was born in The Meadows area of Nottingham.

His father Gary was a semi-professional footballer who inspired Pennant to play.

Pennant recalls how as a child his favourite toy was a football and how it rarely left his side.

Pennant, who grew up in a crime and drug-infested neighbourhood, credits football for saving him from a life of crime.

When he was 14, he moved away from home and was living with Youth Training Scheme players who were 16, 17 and 18.

Pennant was signed at age 15 by Arsenal from Notts County for £2 million, a record transfer fee for a trainee at the time.

Pennant's career seemed promising following his move to Arsenal.

He said in 2018 that he did not expect to start that match, and had been drinking until 6 in the morning the night before.

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.