English Premier League-Player Profile: Kenwyne Jones
Kenwyne Jones is a professional footballer from the small country of Trinidad and Tobago. He currently plays in the English Premier League for Sunderland F.C who are also known as the Black Cats. Jones attended St.Anthony’s College in Trinidad along with his future team mate at Sunderland, Carlos Edwards.
However, as a footballer his real breakthrough came at Sheffield Wednesday where he showed his true potential as a target man. Earlier on in his career during his youth, the prolific striker had trails at Middlesbrough and Manchester United in 2002 but he was not taken up on a contract by either of the English Clubs.
He also had trails at Rangers and West Ham United in 2004. In an interview with Simon Bird, after he had earned fame in English football because of his performances for Sunderland, Jones said that either he had to face a career in the Trinidad army or find a club in Europe to play football. These were his two choices for his future life. Jones also stated that he was prepared for the worst if he didn’t find a club which would be willing to put their trust in him.
Kenwyne’s first English club was Southampton; he joined the men in red and white in summer of 2002. In December of 2004, after spending two years with the club, he was sent on loan to Football league one club Sheffield Wednesday. At Wednesday, he scored seven goals in the same number of games. After he returned to Southampton in 2005, he played in crucial games for them against, Liverpool and Portsmouth.
At the end of the 2004-2005 season, Southampton were relegated to the Football league championship, where Jones continued to impress, however after spending three seasons in the second division of English football, Jones requested a transfer away from Southampton. He got his wish when Sunderland approached the championship side for Kenwyne’s services.
A deal was struck between the two English clubs and a transfer fee was agreed upon which amount to around, six million pounds. Sunderland offered much lucrative Premier League football to the Trinidadian marksman. Jones made his debut for Sunderland on 1st of September 2007 in a one nil defeat to Manchester United. His first goal for his new club came in a Premier League encounter between Sunderland and Reading on 15th of September, 2007, a match that Sunderland eventually won by two goals to one.
In his first whole season with the black cats, Jones made thirty three appearances and scored seven goals, a tally that he improved on in his second season which was the 2008-2009 season with Sunderland. In the 2008-2009 season he made thirty one appearances and scored twelve goals. The 2009-2010 season for Jones in the English Premier League was blighted with transfer speculation which linked the footballer to a transfer to Liverpool F.C. According to several British media reports, the powerful striker was interested in the move but Sunderland were not prepared to part ways with their star striker.
Despite these off-the-field troubles, Kenwyne scored nine goals in thirty four appearances for Sunderland in the 2009-2010 season.
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