Francis Jeffers is the all-time leading goalscorer for the England Under 21s, joint on the list with Alan Shearer. On his only appearance for the senior England team, he scored in the 3-1 friendly defeat to Australia, and during his time at boyhood club Everton he scored 18 goals in 49 league appearances, making a very promising start to his professional career. His performances caught the eye of Arsene Wenger. Arsenal had always been said to have missed a ‘fox in the box’ who could put away the chances that they created, and Wenger believed that Jeffers could be the answer to the London club’s problems in the area, and he purchased the player for an initial £8million in the summer of 2001.

Jeffers was not only a goal poacher though. During his time at Everton, the young Everton striker also showed his build up play was of a very high standard, and it no doubt played a part in Wenger signing the player. He didn’t always rely on his pace to get himself out of trouble and to create chances for himself, and so he was a player that defenders found very unpredictable. He was a player with fantastic awareness of the play around him, and he was a nightmare for defender’s to mark because of his ability to find space. Such a knack sometimes made it impossible for opponents to anticipate his next move.

Such qualities brought him to Highbury on a wave of optimism for the start of 2001/2002 season. His time at Arsenal was however ravaged by injuries and he spent the best part of his three year stay in London on the physio table. His proneness to injury had been apparent during his time at Everton and he had already picked a series of injuries which had prevented him competing for starting places in nearly all of the three years he spent in Everton’s first team squad. During his spell at Arsenal he managed just 20 league matches in three years and scored only 4 goals during this time. Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Sylvain Wiltord were all ahead of him in the pecking order, and it was a struggle to get into the team even without his injuries. After spending so much money on the player, Wenger may have considered persisting with the player through his injury problems but there were other factors which may have affected Jeffers’s stay at Highbury.

Question marks over the young striker’s commitment to the game have been circling since his early days at Everton. At 16 years old, Jeffers already had a contract worth £1million and once he had got into the first team, Jeffers handed in a transfer request in August 1999 after a falling out with manager Walter Smith rumoured to be over the wages in his contract extension. He patched up his differences with Smith but once again fell out with his boss in March 2001 over a contract which would have made the striker the most well-paid player at the club. He left for Arsenal that summer but the decision to leave may have been a costly one.

Injuries no doubt hampered his development as a player, as well as his lack of desire, and he was loaned back to Everton in 2003, where he also fell out with manager David Moyes and only scored two goals in the FA Cup during his loan period. His torrid spell at Arsenal was finally over after a £2.6million move to Charlton in 2004. He has subsequently been on loan to Rangers, moved to Blackburn where he was again sent out on loan to Ipswich before he was finally sold to Sheffield Wednesday in 2007 for £700,000 where he currently plies his trade. Wednesday’s supporters have been on his back for his lack of effort but his injury problems continue as they have throughout his entire career.

A lack of confidence with no long run in the first team football have led Jeffers to becoming only a pale shadow of the player he once was and things got even worse for the now 28 year old striker when he was sent off against Port Vale in the Carling Cup in August. He apparently head-butted and punched Vale’s Captain Tommy Fraser during the match and was subsequently transfer listed by manager Brian Laws. He has been frozen out from first team action since making only two substitute appearances but after the departure of Laws, he was given his first start for over four months in the FA Cup tie against Crystal Palace over a week ago. Jeffers will be hoping for a fresh start under new Owls boss Alan Irvine.