Should Arsenal Regret Loaning Out Carl Jenkinson?

Yes they should. Thanks for reading.

I’m not going to lie, I had largely forgotten about Carl Jenkinson until he popped up with a comment a few weeks back about Arsenal’s injury situation, funny enough.

Jenkinson wasn’t the greatest right back in the world and he definitely made some silly mistakes that kept him from claiming the first team job, but now that Matthieu Debuchy is down, how valuable would it have been to have Jenkinson to fill in? At the very least, he has Premier League experience and he has put up at least a couple good games.

Essentially, I see Jenkinson as the step inbetween Debuchy and Hector Bellerin. He’s not a bonafide first team contributor, but he’s not a raw prospect either.

Also, if Jenkinson were here, it would free up Calum Chambers to cover at center back, another position that is sorely thin.

With the loss of Bacary Sagna and Thomas Vermaelen and the loan of Jenkinson, Arsene Wenger answered with the signings of Mathieu Debuchy and Calum Chambers. That’s well and good, but that’s still one defender down on a defense that was already thin last year. So why he felt the need to loan out Jenkinson as well is a bit foggy to me.

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Sure, getting him first team experience elsewhere is useful, but you have to expect the worst and the worst has happened, which proved that we weren’t ready for it. Plus, Jenkinson is still trying to work his way into the starting squad for West Ham, so the first team experience isn’t even there.

Wouldn’t he have been better suited sitting on our bench waiting for potential injuries to give him another chance like they would have? I do believe so.

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