When Glen Johnson broke into West Ham’s first team, we all knew he would become a star. We hoped he would play for West Ham for a very long time, but then we got relegated and he joined a plethora of stars to exit the club, joining Chelsea for a bargain £6 million. Believe it or not he only played 16 times for us.
Since then he has gone on to make a total of 308 league appearances scoring 14 goals. In addition he has 54 England caps. His contract with Liverpool ran out at the end of last seaosn and he is now a free agent. It was rumoured that Besiktas had wanted him but he wasn’t keen on going to Turkey. For some time now there have been clues that he is angling for a return to Upton Park, but West Ham’s clear target is to re-sign Carl Jenkinson on loan from Arsenal.
While the club woulf prefer a permanent deal, Arsenal are having none of it. However, these discussions on a loan deal have been going on for a long time, and with the likes of Sunderland and Southampton also signing him, nothing is definite. He’s said to be keen to stay in London so I still think we are the frontrunners, but we should also be making contingency plans as we have no right backs at the club at the moment with Guy Demel also having departed.
Bearing in mind the number of games we are scheduled to play this season I wonder whether we shouldn’t be trying to sign both Jenkinson and Johnson. We should also remember that Johnson can play at centre back too. His wages will almost certainly be the stumbling block. He was on a fair old whack at Liverpool, and of course West Ham won’t need to pay a fee to secure his services. He will be 31 in August, which is another reason to want Jenkinson back as first choice.
Would you welcome Glen Johnson back with open arms, or has his form been to erratic over the last few seasons?