Profile

Jermaine Pennant was brought to the club by Rafa Benitez in 2006.

The move was seen as an ideal opportunity for a player with undoubted talent to establish himself as an England international.

Pennant began his career at Notts County but was snapped up by Arsenal at the age of 15. The fee of £2million was a new record for a trainee.

The midfielder made his debut aged just 16 in a League Cup match against Middlesbrough in November 1999. It made him Arsenal's youngster ever player, though this record has since been broken by Cesc Fabregas.

Pennant had to wait until August 2002 for his league debut when he came on as a sub against West Ham. His first league start against Southampton in May 2003 saw him score a hat-trick.

Unfortunately for the young wideman, these were to be his only goals for The Gunners as he failed to hold down a place in Arsene Wenger's side.

All the while he was making quite an impression on the international scene. Despite occasional disciplinary problems, he managed to accrue 24 England Under-21 caps - putting him in the all-time top 10 for appearances.

Domestically, Pennant was loaned out to Watford, Leeds United and Birmingham City. He eventually joined the latter on a permanent basis in April 2005 having made just 26 appearances for Arsenal.

The winger's impressive form at St Andrew's was born out by OPTA statistics, which revelead he provided more crosses than any other Premiership player in 2005-06. Despite this, Birmingham were relegated, and another transfer was inevitable if he was to further his career.

Liverpool secured Pennant's signature in July 2006. Wearing the number 16 shirt vacated by Didi Hamann, he made his competitive debut in a Champions League qualifier against Maccabi Haifa on August 9.

After an initial settling-in period, the new boy began to make his mark, scoring his first goal on January 20, 2007 in a league victory over Chelsea. The boyhood Reds fan was one of the stand-out performers during the Champions League final defeat in Athens.

However, by 2008-09 Pennant found himself out of Benitez's plans as Albert Riera and Dirk Kuyt hogged the wide positions.

He enjoyed a loan spell at Portsmouth in 2008-09 before sealing a permanent move to Real Zaragoza in the summer of 2009.