It’s been 898 days since Carl Jenkinson last featured for Arsenal, but the right-back has the backing of his manager.
Arsene Wenger has praised the professionalism of Carl Jenkinson after the right-back made his first appearance for Arsenal for over two years in Tuesday’s EFL Cup victory against Reading, as reported by the club’s official website.
The 24-year-old scored the last time he donned the red of Arsenal on the final day of the 2013/14 season against Norwich before spending the last two campaigns on loan at West Ham United, the second which was marred by injury after falling out of favour with Slaven Bilic.
Consequently, Jenkinson, a boyhood Arsenal fan, returned to the Emirates in the summer, although with Hector Bellerin pinning down the right-back positon in his absence, it appears increasingly likely that his long-term future lies away from North London.
Nonetheless, he won’t have done his chances any harm with an impressive performance against Jaap Stam’s Reading, with Wenger taking the time to praise his character at full-time.
“I think what is very positive for him, when you have his age and you do not play for such a long time, it’s a nightmare,” the Frenchman told the club’s official website.
“I’m very happy for him that he could come back and play for 90 minutes. And you could see he is well prepared, he is a very professional guy. He had no cramps, nothing, and he did last the whole game so overall that’s fantastic for him.”
Along with Bellerin, France international Mathieu Debuchy remains on the books at the Emirates while Monaco right-back Djibril Sidibe admitted in the summer that he had spurned Arsenal’s advances, suggesting the 2004 Premier League champions are keen to upgrade their options at full-back.
However, Jenkinson, who arrived from Charlton at the age of 19 in 2011, admitted that he hopes he can still carve out a career at Arsenal.
“Arsenal is my club,” he told the Arsenal website. “I went out on loan for a couple of years but I always thought I wanted to perform so I can come back here, I wanted to be good enough and I still want to be good enough to play here.
“Arsenal is my club and it is an honour every time I pull on the shirt.”
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