Jenkinson responds to accusations he didn’t leave Arsenal because he is greedy
By Harry Sykes
Furious Carl Jenkinson has hit back at reports that he did not quit Arsenal for Crystal Palace in January due to greed.
The Gunners right-back insisted he does not want “silly money” but admitted he is keen for a secure financial package.
The 24-year-old was in talks over a permanent switch to Palace but the deal collapsed after the club could not agree personal terms with the Arsenal outcast.
Sky Sports journalist Kaveh Solhekol revealed on his personal Twitter account on deadline day that the move had stalled because Jenkinson was set to earn an astonishing £21,000-per-week less than new Palace signing Jeffrey Schlupp.
Sam Allardyce landed the Leicester winger for a reported £12million and handed him a deal worth £56,000-per-week, while Jenkinson was believed to have been offered £35,000-per-week.
“I wanted to clear up some of the things that came out since the move didn’t happen, which were false with regard to the supposed excessive demands for the move to go through,” said Jenkinson, as quoted by the Telegraph.
“I took it quite personally. I tend to keep away from the papers and what’s written … but when I was seeing certain things, I take it personally.”
Jenkinson did not go into details of the exact financial terms offered by Palace, although the Telegraph report that the deal offered was similar to his Arsenal package, which runs until 2020, and that he would have had to take a 40 per cent pay cut at the south London club were they to be relegated.
“I think in a number of ways, Palace would have been a good fit,” added Jenkinson to the Telegraph. “It would have enabled me to play again and that’s all I want: to play football.
“I had a great year with Big Sam [Allardyce, at West Ham], played some of the best football of my career and got on very well with him. I’ve got great respect for him as a manager. The opportunity to play under him again was something I was interested in doing. In the end it didn’t pan out.
“It’s a culmination of things. When you do leave a club like Arsenal, everything needs to be right. It needs to be the right manager and financially – don’t get me wrong, I don’t want silly money – it needs to be right for me.
“Maybe I won’t get that much football now [until the end of the season] but I’ve still got a 3½-year contract, I’m at Arsenal, played for Arsenal for a number of years. They are not pushing me out of the door but I also know I need to play football.”
Jenkinson has slipped down the pecking order at Emirates Stadium after recovering the cruciate ligament injury that sidelined him for nine months.
He is not only behind established right-back Hector Bellerin but has also lost out to centre-back Gabriel in the fight to deputise for the Spaniard when he is unavailable.
Arsenal will make a late call on whether Bellerin is fit to play against Hull on Saturday after he suffered concussion in the 3-0 defeat to Chelsea last weekend.
In other Arsenal transfer news, the club are in pole position to land this highly-rated Rangers wonderkid, and could beat rivals Chelsea to his signature.
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