Jermaine Jenas

Jermaine Anthony Jenas (born 18 February 1983 in Nottingham) is an England football (soccer) midfielder currently playing for Tottenham Hotspur F.C., in the FA Premier League.

Early life

Jenas attended The Becket School, in Nottingham, for his education.

Club career

Jenas began his career at Nottingham Forest F.C. where he immediately impressed during the 2001-02 in English football season. After a single season at the City Ground, which ploughed 4 goals in 33 games, Jenas was sold to Newcastle United F.C. for £5 million in February 2002.

Despite an impressive first season with Newcastle, in which he won the PFA Young Player of the Year, Jenas failed to repeat his initial form with the club and his two subsequent seasons were disappointing considering his early promise.

Known for his strong "box-to-box" play and ability to score from midfield, Jenas' last two years with Newcastle were marked by a series of inexplicably bland displays. The goals dried up and so did the energy, leading to Jenas starting fewer games.

Despite temporarily regaining his form and gaining the vice-captaincy under new manager
Graeme Souness early in the 2004-05 in English football season, Jenas' form dipped again, fuelling speculation that all was not well with the young Englishman.

Rumours of his unhappiness were confirmed early in the 2005-06 in English football season by manager Graeme Souness, when he revealed Jenas was not enjoying life at Newcastle, comparing it to "living in a goldfish bowl", because of the huge expectations of the Newcastle fans and the media attention.There were rumours that he was likely to replace Patrick Vieira at Arsenal F.C.. However, he was sold to Tottenham Hotspur on transfer deadline day of August 31 2005 for an initial fee of £7million, which rose to £9million after Spurs successfully qualified for European competition. He scored 12 goals in 152 appearances for Newcastle United.

Jenas began to thrive at Tottenham, scoring seven goals from midfield, as Tottenham qualified for the UEFA Cup.

Jenas marked his return from a 13 match injury lay off by scoring the second goal in Tottenham's 3-1 FA Cup 4th round win over Southend United F.C..

Jenas is often used as a stand-in captain when club captain Ledley King, vice-captain Robbie Keane and fellow stand-in captainPaul Robinson (goalkeeper) are not playing.

On April 21, 2007, in a North London derby against Arsenal F.C., Jenas scored a goal from 25 yards. This levelled the scores at 2-2 and gave Spurs a point. This goal was voted by Spurs fans on the official website as the club's 5th best goal of the season.

On August 29 2007, Jenas signed a new 5-year contract with Tottenham which will now keep him at the club until 2012.

International career

Jenas has played internationally for England national football team from the Under-15 level up to the national team, where he made his debut against Australia national football team in February 2003.

Despite struggling with injury towards the end of the 2005-06 season he recovered sufficiently to be named in the 2006 FIFA World Cup squad.

Career stats

^{Correct as of 4 September 2007}

Trivia

- Jermaine is dating Sabrina Keogh, who accompanied him to the World Cup in Germany in 2006.
- His name is commonly pronounced Jee-nas, while it is actually pronounced Jeh-nas.
- His father was born with the surname Genas but had it changed by deed-poll as he wanted the initials 'D.J.'
- Jermaine is nicknamed J.J. by his close friends and team mates.