Jermaine Jenas
Personal information
Full name	Jermaine Anthony Jenas
Date of birth	18 February 1983 (1983-02-18) (age 26)
Place of birth	Nottingham, England
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Central midfield
Club information
Current club	Tottenham Hotspur
Number	8
Youth career
1999–2001	Nottingham Forest
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2001–2002 2002–2005 2005–	Nottingham Forest Newcastle United Tottenham Hotspur	029 0(4) 110 0(9) 121 (21)
National team2
2001–2003 2006 2003–	England U21 England B England	009 0(0) 002 0(1) 0210 (1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:48, 17 October 2009 (UTC+1). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 10 September 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Jermaine Anthony Jenas (pronounced /ˈdʒiːnəs/ JEE-nəs)^[1] (born 18 February 1983 in Nottingham) is an English football midfielder, currently playing for Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Premier League.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Nottingham Forest

Jenas began his career at Nottingham Forest where he immediately impressed during the 2001–02 season. After a single season at the City Ground, which produced four goals in 33 games, Jenas was sold to Newcastle United for £5 million in February 2002.^[2]

[edit] Newcastle

Despite an impressive first season with Newcastle United, in which he won the 2002–03 PFA Young Player of the Year award,^[3] 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 season, Jenas' form dipped again with only two goals in 48 appearances.

Rumours of his unhappiness were confirmed early in the 2005–06 season by manager Graeme Souness, when he revealed Jenas was not enjoying life at Newcastle, and the player reportedly compared life at the club to living 'in a goldfish bowl'. He was sold to Tottenham Hotspur on transfer deadline day of 31 August 2005 for an initial fee of £7million,^[4] which rose to £9million after Spurs successfully qualified for European competition. He scored a total of 12 goals in 152 appearances for Newcastle United.

[edit] Tottenham Hotspur

Scoring seven goals from midfield, as Tottenham qualified for the UEFA Cup. He 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. Under new manager, Juande Ramos, his form improved greatly and played in 1-1 draw and the 5-1 victory over rivals Arsenal in both legs of the semi-finals of the Carling cup, scoring both of the opening goals in each match. The final saw Jenas set up the winning goal for Jonathan Woodgate in the 2-1 Carling Cup victory against Chelsea on Sunday 24 February 2008.

Jenas signed a new 5-year contract with Tottenham on 29 August 2007, keeping him at the club until 2012.^[5]

Under manager Juande Ramos, Jenas initially produced occasional impressive performances, due in part to the new regime but also to some personal words of encouragement from the Spaniard..^[6] His improvement earned him a call-up to Fabio Capello's first England squad, with him starting in a friendly against Switzerland, a game in which he scored the first goal.

On 30 July 2008, Jenas signed a 1-year contract extension to his 5-year contract, keeping him at Tottenham until 2013. A few days later, Jenas was named as Spurs' new vice-captain, following the departures of Robbie Keane and Paul Robinson. In December on Boxing Day against Fulham Jenas made his 100th league appearance for Tottenham.^[7] He scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over West Brom. He was the only player of the Tottenham squad to hit the bar in the Sky Soccer AM crossbar challenge in May 2009.

[edit] International career

Jenas has played internationally for England from the Under-15 level up to the national team, where he made his debut against Australia on 12 February 2003.

Despite struggling with injury towards the end of the 2005–06 season he recovered sufficiently to be named in the 2006 World Cup squad. He scored his first England goal on 6 February 2008, in Fabio Capello's first game in charge, a friendly against Switzerland at Wembley.

[edit] International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	6 February 2008	Wembley, London, England	Switzerland	1–0	2–1	Friendly match

[edit] Honours

Tottenham Hotspur

• Carling Cup: 2007-08
• Runners up medal 2008-09.
• Barclays Asia Trophy: 2009

Individiual

• PFA Young Player of the Year: 2003

[edit] Career stats

• As of 13 Sept 2009

[edit] Personal life

Jenas attended The Becket School, in Nottingham, for his education. His father was born with the surname Genas but had it changed by deed-poll as he wanted the initials 'D.J.'^{[citation needed]}. Jermaine is nicknamed J.J.. He has a sister named Sarah O'Donovan who now lives in Birmingham and is an accountant. He has been dating Sabrina Keogh, who accompanied him to the World Cup in Germany in 2006, for over six years. In November 2007, Sabrina gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter named Sancha Natasha. Unfortunately the relationship was not to last and Jermaine and Sabrina split up in the later part of 2008.^[8] He announced his engagement to part-time model Ellie Penfold in August 2009, a year after meeting in a London nightclub. He claimed in an interview for Radio Five Live that his favourite songs are Bartender by T-Pain and Swagga Like Us by Jay-Z.

[edit] Trivia

Jermaine is famously nicknamed "da Jenius"^{[citation needed]} for his creative box-to-box play and quick distribution from the middle of the pitch.

Jermaine also recently participated alongside Bo' Selecta!'s Keith Lemon in a promotional event, in which they advertised the Virtual PSP's Go!Messenger software by having the first ever virtual meeting using the PSP^{[citation needed]}.

Jermaine also made a cameo appearance in the 2005 film Goal!

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Jermaine Jenas FIFA competition record
• Jermaine Jenas career stats at Soccerbase
• TheFA.com profile
• "Big Interview" from The Guardian

v • d • e England squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Robinson • 2 Neville • 3 A. Cole • 4 Gerrard • 5 Ferdinand • 6 Terry • 7 Beckham • 8 Lampard • 9 Rooney • 10 Owen • 11 J. Cole • 12 Campbell • 13 James • 14 Bridge • 15 Carragher • 16 Hargreaves • 17 Jenas • 18 Carrick • 19 Lennon • 20 Downing • 21 Crouch • 22 Carson • 23 Walcott • Coach: Eriksson