Jermaine Pennant

At 41 years old, Jermaine Pennant has this physical status:

Club career

Arsenal signed Pennant from Notts County at age 15, a record transfer fee for a trainee at the time.

Following his move to Arsenal, Pennant's career seemed to be promising. On the 30th of November 29, 1999, he made his debut aged 16 years and 319 days against Middlesbrough in the League Cup, beating Gerry Ward's record by two days; Pennant's record has since been surpassed by Cesc Fàbregas. He continued to play in League Cups for the next two seasons, but he had to wait two-and-a-half years for his league debut against West Ham United on August 24, 2002.

Pennant became homesick at first. He began to get sick from not playing after that subsided. It had a major effect on him. He played for Arsenal for seven years and made five starts, including a hat-trick on his full league debut against Southampton on May 7, 2003. He said in 2018 that he did not expect to start the game and that he hadn't been drinking until 6 a.m. in the morning. However, these were his first Arsenal league goals, and he didn't manage to secure a regular spot in an Arsenal team that went on a streak of 49 consecutive games without losing. Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger seemed to have lost patience with Pennant, who had a history of turning up late to training. Pennant spent time on loan at Watford and Leeds United between 2002 and 2004. Pennant was recalled to Leeds as a member of the 2003–04 season and was in regular first-team action.

Pennant was loaned to Birmingham City in the second half of the 2004–05 season. Walter Pandiani had a good start at St Andrew's, delivering him with the winning goal against Southampton on his debut. Pennant then stated that he wanted to make his loan modification permanent. He was arrested and found guilty of drink-driving, driving while disqualified, and driving without insurance on March 1, 2005. By the time, the judge had been sentenced to three months in prison. Despite this, Birmingham boss Steve Bruce and chairman David Gold vowed to stand by Pennant until his term was completed. In a match against Tottenham Hotspur, he was released from jail after 30 days and sporting an electronic tag.

On April 25, 2005, Pennant agreed to a long-term deal in Birmingham for a fee of £3 million. In 2005-06, he had to deal with discipline issues as the club battled against relegation. Birmingham was then relegated to the Championship after losing 0–0 with Newcastle United. Liverpool made a bid for Pennant following Birmingham's relegation.

Pennant's four-year deal with a £6.7 million transfer fee increased to £8 million with add-ons on July 26, 2006. Pennant made his Liverpool debut against Maccabi Haifa in a UEFA Champions League third round qualifying match at Anfield, where he went on to win the fans' Star Man award after impressing in pre-season. In Liverpool's 2–0 home victory over Chelsea in the Premier League on January 20, he scored his first goal for the team. Pennant beat his former club Arsenal 4–1 on March 31, 1999. After not being picked for the England squad to face Israel and Andorra in March 2007, Pennant expressed disappointment with England boss Steve McClaren's inability.

Pennant began the 2007–08 season in a good shape, putting in solid results on both flanks as Liverpool reached the top of the Premier League table in the first month. Despite Liverpool boss Rafael Bentez's support, he was once more dismissed by McClaren for the England team in their European Championship qualifiers against Israel and Russia. Pennant could not recover his form as Liverpool struggled to recover their early season form following the international break, but he could not continue his form.

Pennant was suspended against Porto in Liverpool's first UEFA Champions League match of the season on September 18, 2007.

Pennant was loaned out to Portsmouth, where he spent the second half of the 2008–09 season. He appeared in 13 league games for Portsmouth but without scoring a single goal. Following his release, Pennant did not receive a new deal by Liverpool, and he eventually became a free agent after his deal came to an end on July 1st.

On July 9, 2009, Pennant passed a medical and agreed to a three-year contract with Real Zaragoza. He made his La Liga debut on the first matchday of the season by playing 71 minutes in Zaragoza's 1–0 victory over Tenerife. He was reprimanded by coach José Aurelio Gay for being late for training three times in the space of two weeks; he was sent home on the third occasion and disciplined. He never played for Real Zaragoza again.

Pennant agreed a four-month loan contract with Premier League side Stoke City on August 30, the last day of the summer transfer window. In the home match against Aston Villa on September 13, he made his Stoke debut as a replacement. In the January transfer window, boss Tony Pulis suggested that Pennant's loan switch be made permanent. After his loan period, Pennant also stated his intention to remain in Stoke.

On December 29, 2010, Pennant joined Stoke on a permanent basis for a two-and-a-half year, with a £1.725 million initial fee that could increase to £2.8 million.

Following his release, Pulis stated that Pennant will not be complacent. Stoke won by 4–0 over Newcastle United in March 2011, his first goal of the season for the club, and he scored his second goal of the season as they defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers 3–0. He has also scored against his former club Arsenal. Stoke defeated Manchester City 1–0 in the 2011 FA Cup Final, and Pennant was the 2011 FA Cup Finalist.

Prior to the 2011-12 season, Pennant was given the number 7 shirt. However, he reverted to number 16 because a large number of followers had already purchased a replica shirt with his name and old number. Pennant continued his good fortune in 40 of the club's 59 games (starting in 231), assisting the team in reaching the round of 32 of the FA Europa League and the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Pennant's season was dominated by off-the-pitch issues, although he lost a club curfew twice before matches against Everton and Crawley Town. This sparked rumors about his future at the club, but Pennant insisted he was not planning to leave the Britannia Stadium.

However, with the signing of Wolverham Wanderers winger Michael Kightly, Pennant was unable to help him re-engage with Tony Pulis' plans, and on October 12, 2012, he joined Wolverhampton Wanderers in a three-month loan contract. He did not have the best spells at Molineux, getting off to a tenacious start and was criticized by some of the Wolves' support for some poor performances, and he returned to Stoke in January 2013. Pennant's return to Stoke found him out of the first squad and seemed to be done before the 2012-2013 season was due, and he was included on Stoke's released list. However, Stoke manager Mark Hughes gave Pennant a one-year deal, which he accepted.

Pennant returned to the team for the 2013-14 season, and he defeated West Ham United 1–0 on August 31, 2013. However, his employment was terminated on January 24, 2014, after making no impact under Hughes.

Pennant joined Pune, India's Super League side, on November 6, 2014. He appeared seven times for Pune, finishing in sixth place.

On February 21, 2015, Pennant returned to England and joined Wigan Athletic, a Championship club, on a free transfer until the end of the season. He played 13 times and scored three goals, three of which were free-kicks, but he was unable to help Wigan avoid relegation to the third class. He had been offered a new deal with the club but he refused to accept it.

Pennant went to court in January 2016 with the Singapore-based Tampines Rovers, which resulted in a 12-month contract after nothing came out of a trial with Thai club Muang Thong United. He was set to receive a 70% wage cut from his Wigan's salary, according to local news. He scored his first goal in a friendly match against Hougang United on February 26, 2016 from a free kick. Pennant went on to score against Home United and against Warriors FC.

Pennant returned to England football in January 2017 after a short-term deal with League One club Bury.

During July 2017, Pennant underwent a trial period with Scottish Premiership club Hibernian, but the club decided not to give him a contract.

Billericay Town's Billericay Town, an Isthmian League Premier Division club, has since signed him for two years. Pennant left Billericay Town after just four months, having made 13 appearances in the FA Cup (1 goal) and 2 in the FA Cup.

By August 2019, Pennant had been out of work.

International career

When Pennant was on the England under-21 team for breaking a curfew before a crucial match against Turkey, head coach David Platt sent him home. He later apologised for his conduct. In a match against the Croatia under 21, he was suspended for punching Niko Kranjar. However, he did manage to make 24 appearances for the U21s in total, making him one of the top-capped Englishmen at this level.

Despite being of Jamaican and Irish descent, he opted to represent England internationally; however, although he competed for England under 21 years old, he did not play for the senior team. Pennant said in March 2011 that even though he would still "love to play for England," he had informed the Football Association of Ireland that he was keen to represent Ireland. "I'm going to play international football with Ireland with both hands" and "if I have the opportunity to play international football with Ireland."

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