Kenwyne Jones – Sunderland’s Striker
Kenwyne Joel Jones (born 5 October 1984 in Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago) [1] is a Trinidadian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Sunderland. He previously played for Southampton, Stoke City, Sheffield Wednesday, W Connection and Joe Public.
He began his football career with Joe Public in his native Trinidad and Tobago. He moved to W Connection in 2002,[2] and he was a utility player in the Trinidad and Tobago team in 2003 against Finland. In 2004, he joined Southampton, where he was converted to a striker.[3] He was later loaned to Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke City during the 2004–05 season.
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Kenwyne Joel Jones | |
| Date of birth | 5 October 1984 (age 25) | |
| Place of birth | Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago | |
| Height | 1.89 m (6 ft 2+1?2 in) | |
| Playing position | Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Sunderland | |
| Number | 17 | |
Sunderland
On 29 August 2007, it was confirmed that he had joined Sunderland in a deal valued at £6 million with fellow-Trinidadian Stern John moving to Southampton.[19][20] The Trinidadian stiker made his debut for Sunderland on 1 September in a 1–0 defeat to Manchester United and scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 home win over Reading on 15 September.[21]
Jones was linked with a £12 m player move to Liverpool in November 2007, with Peter Crouch moving to Sunderland.[22][23] Jones was again linked with high profile clubs on 21 December 2007, including Chelsea and Liverpool, but Sunderland manager Roy Keane insisted that he would be going nowhere.[24] Jones scored his fifth goal at the Stadium of Light, with a header from the near post off a corner kick, in Sunderland’s 3–1 win over Bolton on 29 December.[25] Chelsea captain John Terry praised Jones, saying: “Jones was fantastic and I have played against him twice now. He is a very good player, very hard working and probably the best in the air in the entire Premier League, he really is that good” after Chelsea had won the match 1–0 on 15 March 2008.[26]
On 1 June 2008, Jones suffered a knee ligament injury in a collision with Goalkeeper David James in the seventh minute of Trinidad & Tobago’s 3–0 defeat against England.[27] He made his first appearance of the 2008–09 season playing for 60 minutes in Sunderland reserve team’s 2–0 victory against Wigan Athletic.[28], followed by a return to Sunderland’s first team in the Tyne-Wear derby on 25 October 2008 as a second half substitute, when he helped Sunderland to secure a 2–1 victory over their local rivals.[29] His first goal following his return came on 12 November in a 2–1 League Cup defeat against Blackburn Rovers.[30] He continued his recovery from injury with a goal, again against Blackburn, on 15 November 2008 as Sunderland won 2–1.[31]
Jones put an end to speculation linking him with a move to Tottenham Hotspur by signing a 4 and a half year contract at the Stadium of Light on 27 January 2009.[32] After a spell of six games without a goal, Jones scored against Manchester United in a 2–1 defeat.[33]
On 22 August Jones contributed to Sunderland’s 2–1 victory over Blackburn Rovers scoring two goals. Jones again contributed with two goals for Sunderland when they were at home to Wolves on 27 September, in a 5–2 win. One goal being the highlight of the game, curling the ball home from 22yards out.[34] Jones scored his fifth goal of the season with a header against Manchester United, out jumping Ben Foster to give Sunderland a 2-1 lead but in the dying moments of the match at Old Trafford, Patrice Evra’s shot was deflected in for an own-goal by Anton Ferdinand to level it up and end the match as a 2-2 draw.
Source: Kenwyne Jones, Sunderland F.C., English Premier League News, Sunderland Striker information at wikipedia.org.