According to a report in today's Sunday Times, Leeds chairman Professor John McKenzie was quoted as saying: ‘We are delighted Jermaine is joining Peter Reid’s team. He will be with us for the next two months and although no commitment has been made yet with Arsenal it opens up the possibility of a permanent move later on.’
It was thought that Pennant, 20, was going to be given a chance in the first team at Highbury as the club have been fairly inactive in the summer transfer market, but he now becomes the latest young British player to be shown the door by manager Arsène Wenger after Matthew Upson was sold last season to Birmingham City.
Despite becoming British football’s most expensive teenager when he joined Arsenal for £2m from Notts County in 1998, Pennant has struggled to convince Wenger to give him a regular run in the first team ahead of foreign stars such as Robert Pires, Sylvain Wiltord and Freddie Ljungberg.
Pennant’s move to Leeds comes a day after Everton offered to take Francis Jeffers, who moved to Highbury from Goodison Park in an £8m deal in June 2001, back to Merseyside on loan.