Whilst the 26-year-old’s career is stuttering at the moment as he doesn’t appear to in Unai Emery’s plans, Carl Jenkinson was once an exciting prospect for The Gunners, and when he was loaned to West Ham ahead of the 2014/15 season, The Hammers were rightly excited to get him on-board.
BREAKING: England full-back Carl Jenkinson has joined #WHUFC on a season-long loan from @Arsenal #WelcomeJenko pic.twitter.com/UsSda414ci
— West Ham United (@WestHam) July 31, 2014
Jenkinson ended up spending a season and a half at West Ham and in his time at Upton Park he played some of the best football of his career. The right-back was 22-years-old when he signed for West Ham on-loan and everyone seemed to believe that the first-team football would do him the world of good before returning to Arsenal to take the first-team spot on the right of The Gunners’ back four.
It didn’t exactly work out quite like that for the defender, though, and whilst he impressed for West Ham during his time with The Hammers, he’s massively failed to hit the early heights that he was tipped to reach. However, in his time at West Ham he managed 59 appearances, scoring twice and providing two assists. If the club was to make a move for Jenkinson now, the fans might not take too kindly to it, but back in 2014 the defender was a great signing.
Looking back at his time across London will no doubt bring back some good memories for Jenkinson and if he is to try and get back to playing his best football then he’ll need to replicate his form that he found in the 2014/15 season when he was forcing himself into the debate for an England place, even though at the moment he looks millions of miles away from being in contention to play for his country.
You can read what The Hammers’ made of Jenkinson’s loan move back in 2014 here:
“@whufc_official: England full-back Carl Jenkinson has joined #WHUFC on a season-long loan from @Arsenal #WelcomeJenko” class signing
— James Obern (@J_Obern9) 31 July 2014
@whufc_official @premierleague @Arsenal do us proud jenko #afc #whu
— omo akin (@seeomoakin) July 31, 2014
@whufc_official @Arsenal best right back in premier league..
— Liam Burton (@liam93b) July 31, 2014
@whufc_official @Arsenal all very well, but can we not call him #JENKO!!
— Neil Jarman (@jarmanic) July 31, 2014
@whufc_official suits the claret & blue
— Josh Hamilton (@jkhamilton22) July 31, 2014
@whufc_official @premierleague @Arsenal fantastic loan signing for West Ham. Very talented player. #SuperJenko
— BFW (@wazzak23) July 31, 2014
@whufc_official @Arsenal forever blowing bubbles, Good luck Jenko!
— Influenzaer (@FebiRachman_) July 31, 2014
@whufc_official unreal
— hammersfan (@Hammer_trev) July 31, 2014
The Hammers were excited to see Jenkinson sign when he did and whilst his career has gone off the rails as of late, West Ham fans can’t complain about his contributions in his time at Upton Park.
