Jermaine Pennant

Pennant played as a right winger. He had been described by former Newcastle United left-back José Enrique as a player with similar style to that of Aaron Lennon and Theo Walcott. Pennant was also able to use skill to beat opponents' full backs.

While on the England under-21 team, Pennant was sent home by head coach David Platt for breaking a curfew before an important match against Turkey. He later apologised for his actions. He was also sent off for punching Niko Kranjčar in a match against the Croatia under-21s. However, he did manage to make 24 appearances for the U21s in total, making him one of the ten most-capped Englishmen at this level. Despite being of Jamaican and Irish descent, he opted to represent England internationally; although he played at under-21 level, he did not play for the senior team. In March 2011, Pennant revealed that though he would still "love to play for England", he had made the Football Association of Ireland aware he was interested in representing the Republic of Ireland, saying, "If I've got a chance to play international football with Ireland, I'm going to take it with both hands." Pennant is one of only two English players to have played in a UEFA Champions League Final, but never to have represented England at senior level, the other being Jamie Gittens.

Arsenal

Pennant was signed at age 15 by Arsenal from Notts County for £2 million, a record transfer fee for a trainee at the time. Pennant's career seemed promising following his move to Arsenal. He made his debut aged 16 years and 319 days against Middlesbrough in the League Cup on 30 November 1999, making him Arsenal's youngest-ever first team player, surpassing Gerry Ward's long-standing record by two days; Pennant's record has since been surpassed by Cesc Fàbregas. He continued to make League Cup appearances over the next few seasons, but had to wait 2+1⁄2 years for his league debut, as a substitute against West Ham United on 24 August 2002 in the Premier League. At first, Pennant became homesick. After that subsided, he began to get sick from not playing. It affected him greatly. He played for Arsenal for seven years and only made five starts, including a hat-trick on his full league debut against Southampton on 7 May 2003. He said in 2018 that he did not expect to start that match, and had been drinking until 6 in the morning the night before. However, these were also his only Arsenal league goals and he did not manage to secure a regular place in an Arsenal side that went on a run of 49 consecutive games without defeat. Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger appeared to have eventually lost patience with Pennant, who had a history of turning up late to training. Between 2002 and 2004, Pennant spent time on loan at Watford and Leeds United. Pennant received regular…

In February 2004, Pennant was given a 16-month driving ban after being caught drink-driving in Paddington, West London. On 23 January 2005, he was arrested and again charged with drink-driving, and driving while uninsured, after crashing his Mercedes into a lamp-post in Aylesbury while still serving the ban for the first offence. During questioning, Pennant initially identified himself as his friend Ashley Cole. Pennant pleaded guilty to drink-driving and driving while disqualified, and was sentenced to 90 days in prison on 1 March. He was released on parole after 30 days and immediately returned to playing for Birmingham City, although he had to wear an electronic tag at all times, including while on the pitch. It emerged during the trial that he was illiterate. In January 2011, Pennant's Porsche Turbo with his personal number plate was found abandoned at a railway station in Zaragoza with five months' worth of parking tickets. He was reported to have forgotten he owned the car. In April 2012, Pennant was arrested for drink driving, driving while disqualified and without insurance after being involved in a traffic collision. The following month, he was banned from driving for three years and given an eight-week jail sentence, suspended for a year. In 2007, Pennant began dating glamour model Amii Grove. Following a domestic disturbance in July 2007, he was arrested for a Section 5 public order offence – using words or behaviour likely to cause distress – for which he had to…