Arsenal: Carl Jenkinson Collapse Sad For All Parties

Carl Jenkinson’s proposed move to Crystal Palace has reportedly collapsed, a sad state for him, Arsenal and the London buyers.

The January transfer window is here and Arsenal are typically quiet. Arsene Wenger is notoriously disenchanted with the winter window, claiming that value is difficult to find as clubs rarely want to sell their better, more established players halfway through the season.

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Nonetheless, while incomings are scarce – only Cohen Bramhall has been signed thus far, a 20-year-old left back from non-league football who will likely never start a meaningful game for the Gunners without a meteoric rise, and Wenger has said that he does not expect any between now and the deadline – possible departures have arisen.

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Most specifically, Wenger has publicly stated that both Carl Jenkinson and Mathieu Debuchy, the two players who are currently warming the bench with Hector Bellerin’s consistently excellent form, are available for other clubs to pursue, both on a permanent and temporary basis. Only rumours have arisen surrounding the latter but Crystal Palace have been very close to agreeing to a deal to sign Jenkinson.

According to reports, a fee between Palace and Arsenal had been agreed, Jenkinson was happy to leave North London and the only sticking point was the disparity in the respective supply and demands of his wages at his new club. Sam Allardyce, the man who replaced Alan Pardew earlier in the year, has stated that he still believes a deal can be done but, for now at least, there is no deal in the pipeline.

That is undoubtedly a sad state of affairs. Jenkinson, after returning from a long-term injury that scuppered the end of his second successive season on loan at West Ham, has suffered from a self-admitted crisis of confidence, meaning that Wenger has turned to Gabriel Paulista, a natural centre-half, to deputise for Bellerin when the Spaniard is absent due to injury.

A new environment, under a new manager at a club where he would likely be able to entrench himself as the established starter, would be a fresh start for a player who undoubtedly has some talent, is defensively sound and boasts an incredible engine, bombing up and down the right flank all day long.

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Moreover, he still has the prime of his career ahead of him, at only 24 years of age. It is a sad collapse given a lack of playing time at the Emirates ahead of him and the potential stagnation that can be caused as a result. A departure would have been far fairer for him, Arsenal and Palace.