'Jenas by name, genius by nature' was the line used in commentary once upon a time but he never fulfilled that potential. Speaking on Saturday the former Newcastle player explained why that was but Alan Shearer didn't agree.
Jermaine Jenas was a pretty decent midfielder once and he had the world ahead of him. Of course injuries and an inability to quite reach the next level meant that he was never anything more than a pretty decent player.
Check out this XI of England players you've forgotten about:
The 35 year old was forced to retire aged just 31 because of injury, playing for QPR at the time after eight years playing for Spurs.
Advert
He still did well earning 21 caps for England and he's used all that experience to become a good pundit, working both for BBC 5 Live on the radio and MOTD and BT Sport on television.
On Saturday he explained why he failed to fulfil his potential, telling BT: "Training with England, my levels went up. And then, I could almost feel them dwindle as the weeks went on. Training with England was at such an intense level - everyone wants to win, everyone wants to be in the team, and when I came back to Newcastle, I'd be up here [gestures above his head] - miles ahead of everybody.
"Then, literally, because the demand wasn't as high at Newcastle as it was at England, my standards would drop and drop and drop throughout the weeks until I was back to Newcastle level."
However one of his teammates at the time Alan Shearer clearly didn't agree with Jenas' assessment, taking to Twitter:
Jenas did ultimately take the blame for his own shortcomings adding, "I don't blame anybody, I look at myself, I do live with regrets."
Does Jenas have a point?
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Jermaine Jenas, Football News, Premier League, Alan Shearer, Newcastle United
