Pennant craves Highbury return
By Steve Stammers, Evening Standard
10 February 2004
The last time Arsenal entertained Southampton it was an FA Cup Final dress rehearsal - and the star of an emphatic 6-1 win at Highbury was, without question, hattrick hero Jermaine Pennant.
Nine months on and Southampton are back at Highbury. This time, however, there will be no Pennant. He will be at Elland Road on a dual mission - to resurrect a career that was in danger of self-destructing and to help Leeds avoid the severe financial implications that relegation would create.
Pennant, 21 a fortnight ago, is at Leeds on a month-to-month loan. But he wants his future to be at Arsenal, the club he joined in a welter of publicity for £2million as a 15-year-old from Notts County, and where he has yet to convince the powers that the investment was a sound one.
Pennant's contract runs out next year but, according to a man who knows him better than anyone, he would like a future at Arsenal that extends way beyond that.
'He has changed and he has changed for the better,' said Sky Andrew, who has become much more than Pennant's agent over the last five years. Andrew, who also looks after Arsenal's Sol Campbell, is at once a paternal and fraternal influence on Pennant through his traumas off the field.
The winger's attitude and lifestyle while at Highbury left much to be desired even before he was sent home in disgrace following a breach of curfew with the England Under-21s last season. The indications were that the youngster from Nottingham could not handle fame and fortune. 'Great player but a bad lot', was the word at Highbury.
彭南特好友透露 虽然他的合约明年到期 但是他希望能够续约并且留在阿森纳发展
