The Nottingham Forest Academy has benefited the club immeasurably, but one gem who went on to enjoy a Premier League career became one of Arsene Wenger’s biggest transfer misses.
In recent times, it has been Ryan Yates flying the flag for the Forest academy, becoming one of Nuno Espirito Santo’s most trusted options in midfield.
Unfortunately for him personally, Yates missed the FA Cup semi-final due to suspension, which left new starlet Zach Abbott the honour of representing the academy at Wembley.
Before Yates and Abbott, though, one former England international who broke through at Forest was making waves, so much so that legendary manager Arsene Wenger took a keen interest.
Arsene Wenger regretted not signing Jermaine Jenas
Making an immediate impression on the senior team, Jermaine Jenas was named Forest captain at 17 in a remarkable show of faith.
He would quickly make a £5 million move to Newcastle United, but before this, Arsenal’s iconic boss had shown a keen interest in Jenas, something he has discussed on the Filthy Fellas podcast.
Jenas said: “I did some work with FIFA a couple of years ago, hosting The Best awards, and Arsene Wenger works at FIFA now, so I was like, I’m just going to ask him!
“So I was like: ‘Arsene, why didn’t you buy me? What happened?’, he was like I knew you were going to ask this and he said: ‘Look, I should’ve bought you when you were at Forest.’
“He said: ‘That was my mistake, when you were at Forest and you were leaving, that’s when I should’ve bought you.'”
Jenas was respected in the Forest dressing room at such a young age, so it’s no surprise that top managers like Wenger were interested in him. This doesn’t take away from the honour of playing for his home team, though, as reflected in how he talks about his debut.
Jermaine Jenas reflects on his Nottingham Forest debut
A player’s first call-up to the Forest squad is a career highlight, but Jenas explained that his debut came after some rather intense tests of his character.
He said: “It was around Christmas time, David Platt was the manager, and Paul Hart was like: ‘listen, you’ve got to come in on Christmas Day.
“[…] So I came in on Christmas Day and I didn’t know what he was going to do, I thought I was going to be joining up with the reserves or the first-team or something. He [Hart] goes: ‘Alright, so you’re going to do a run.’
“[…] As I finished, I got back to where the tunnel is and all of the first team boots are there, and it’s just me […], there was a hot bucket of water, and he just told me to clean all of those boots.
“[…] Next thing, New Year’s comes around and cup games are coming up. We’re playing Wolves at home, […] I got a call on the night before saying: ‘You’re in the squad, so make sure you’re in on time.’
“I was like ok, I’ll be on the bench at best. I turned up, and David Platt called me into his office and told me I was starting.”
Jenas was certainly put through the paces, but his perseverance is perhaps part of what appealed to Wenger at Arsenal.
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