Where Are They Now: Francis Jeffers

Where Are They Now? is a series which will focus on players who never quite made it at Arsenal, and has a look at their careers before, during and after Arsenal.

The idea, along with the name, was given to me by one of the emerging writers at Bleacher Report, Maire Ofeire. So due credit must go to her.

In this edition of Where Are They Now?, I'll take you through the career of a certain Francis Jeffers—the fox in the box, as he was once called.

Francis Jeffers was a prodigious talent when he arrived at Arsenal at the age of 20 in 2001. Considered by many as the "next big thing" in England, he arrived with a considerable amount of pressure and a lot of talent having scored 18 goals in 49 appearances at Everton.

The price tag of £10 million on his head, Francis Jeffers was expected to perform, and fast.

Before all this, though, Jeffers made his full debut with Everton against Derby County in 1999 at the age of 17. He then scored his first goal for the club in an F.A. Cup match against Coventry City in the same season. 1999 was a great year for Jeffers, as he won his first call up to the England national team for their game against Hungary. 

At the end of the 1998-99 season, Jeffers ended up scoring seven goals for Everton. Surprisingly, he handed in a transfer request at the beginning of the 1999-00 season, which he later withdrew, and partnered Kevin Campbell successfully before he suffered the first of many injuries.

He began the 2000-01 season in superb fashion, scoring six goals in nine games, only for yet another injury to keep him out of action until 2001. At the end of the season, however, Arsene Wenger came in for the striker and Jeffers sealed a dream move to Arsenal.

Wenger expected big things from young Englishman, and was willing to give him a chance even though he had an injury-plagued season. That, though, wasn't meant to be.

Francis Jeffers never made a lasting impression on the Arsenal fans, scoring just four goals in 22 appearances over three seasons at Arsenal. He was further plagued by injuries, and even showed his poor temperament when he got sent off against Manchester United in the Community Shield after kicking out at Phil Neville.

Ironically, this became the 50th red card amassed by Arsenal under Arsene Wenger.

That was the only real "feat" achieved by Jeffers as three seasons after his move, he was loaned off unceremoniously to his former club, Everton. He never got his scoring boots on, even at Goodison Park, and a poor relationship with manager David Moyes meant that Jeffers had to return to Arsenal at the end of the 2003-04 season.

His Arsenal misery ended after he was finally sold to fellow London club, Charlton Athletic in a £2.6 million deal—which represented a massive loss for Arsenal.

Jeffers struggled yet again at the Valley, scoring a paltry three goals in 20 appearences. Unable to settle at Charlton, he was loaned out again after just one season—this time to Glasgow Rangers. Yet again, he didn't manage to score a single goal while in Scotland, and was sent back to Charlton after six months.

His career looked like it had well and truly imploded at this point.

Mark Hughes took a gamble that many managers before him took, and signed the   injury-prone striker for Blackburn Rovers at the beginning of the 2006-07 season. Yet again Jeffers didn't impress, without scoring a single goal yet again.

That was definitely his last chance in the English Premier League.

He was sent on yet another loan deal to Ipswich Town in March 2007, and did sufficiently well to convince them to take him on permanently, scoring four goals in nine appearances. Ipswich tried to make the deal permanent, but the deal never materialised.

At the beginning of the 2007-08 season, Jeffers moved to Sheffield Wednesday in a deal worth £700,000 and has since made only 12 appearances for the club, scoring just two goals. In this period, he has been plagued by injuries and has still not quite settled in at the club.

Francis Jeffers has been very unlucky as a footballer. He's got injuries at the wrong time from the get-go, which have never allowed him to settle down anywhere. His nomadic presence in English football has also been marked by just 31 goals over a decade.

Jeffers also set the precedent for Arsene Wenger's much-criticized transfer policy, where he became reluctant to "buy big" and "buy English" in the future. The "fox in the box" never lived up to his reputation anywhere, let alone at Arsenal.

As far as the Arsenal fans are concerned, we'll probably remember Francis Jeffers as one of the biggest flop signings under Arsene Wenger. 

Thomas Jefferson once said, "I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."

I'll let you decide whether Francis Jeffers was genuinely unlucky, or didn't work hard enough to earn his luck.

One thing is for certain though, he was an England star that never was.