Following a lot of speculation over the future of Carl Jenkinson, the Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has stated that he wishes to retain the services of the young full-back, but he is unsure whether he will return to Arsenal for next season or the one after.
The Englishman, who has been on loan at West Ham this season, has made 33 appearances for the East London side, becoming a mainstay of Sam Allardyce’s team. Over the course of the season, Jenkinson has been in great form and it seems as though Wenger has been impressed enough to keep him on the Arsenal books.
Speaking to the Press ahead of Monday night’s clash with Swansea, Le Prof was quoted as saying: “I met Carl this week to speak about his future. We will sit down together at the end of the season,”
“My target is to keep him here at the club. He had a great season for me and he has moved forward and overall he has gained a lot of confidence.
“The decision I have to make is do I bring him back now or does he need one more year now to play somewhere in the Premier League? That is not decided yet.
“That’s what I have to decide at the end of the season. He needs experience.
“Carl is a young, very promising right-back with top quality and he had a good year where he has really moved forward. It’s important that, if he comes back, he has a good chance to play.”
In my opinion, I think Wenger’s got it spot on. Jenkinson has had a very good season playing for the Hammers and I firmly believe that he deserves more opportunities to try and make it at Arsenal. However, I think that he may need to go out on loan once again next season as a result of Arsene Wenger’s abundance of options at right-back.
With Mathieu Debuchy likely to leave at the end of next season to fulfil his desire to finish his career at Lyon, I think Jenko should be brought in after the end of next season which will see him compete with young Hector Bellerin for the right-back slot. Personally, I really want to see Jenko succeed at Arsenal, he is the one player amongst our ranks who is a lifelong supporter of the club.