Unai Emery showed his true colours with treatment of Arsenal star before selling him

Former Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson has opened up about his time working under Unai Emery. The 32-year-old has revealed how brutal honesty from Emery, mixed with the Spanish coach’s decision to include him in the squad, showcased the manager’s kind nature in Jenkinson’s final days at the club.

The one-time England international, who spent eight years with the Gunners and had loan spells at West Ham and Birmingham City, has spoken about his departure from Arsenal in 2019. Only a few months later, Emery would follow Jenkinson through the exit doors but has since rebuilt his reputation with success at Villarreal and building his high-flying Aston Villa side.

On the Fozcast, hosted by ex-England goalkeeper Ben Foster, Jenkinson discussed the challenges players face during pre-season when they are not part of a manager’s plans, describing friendlies as a “shop window” for those on their way out. That courtesy was offered to Jenkinson by Emery, which he believes shows the manager’s true colours.

“In pre-season, it’s a time where you’re playing games and players can be watched, you know, and if players like – it happens a lot in pre-season, managers will go ‘Oh you’re not in my squad, I don’t want you’,” Jenkinson told Foster.

“Pre-season games are a shop window as well, so if a player has actually been left behind and then no one sees them throughout pre-season, it makes it, they’ll think ‘Oh, you’re forcing me out’, it’s actually making it even harder for them to find a club.”

Addressing the end of his time at Arsenal, Jenkinson added: “I always remember towards the end of my time at Arsenal, I knew that I needed to find a solution because I wasn’t going to play much and the writing was kind of on the wall.

“We were going away for pre-season, and it was under Unai Emery, and I think I actually went into his office, like on the first day back for preseason. I said like – because we had had a conversation at the end of the season before – and he said ‘Look I’ll be honest, you’re not going to play much for me this season’. So I said ‘Okay, cool’, do you know what I mean, I’ll look for another club, I appreciate your honesty.

“So I went in and I said ‘Unai, I could really do with coming on this pre-season’, he might have been like taking me anyway, but I just wanted to let him know, because as I said it’s a shop window for me, it’s a time for me to show what I can do for other clubs who will be watching.”

Sharing an insight into Emery’s man-management skills, Jenkinson realled: “He said ‘Oh, don’t worry, yeah, you’re coming on the tour’. I went on the tour, we played Real Madrid in America. I wasn’t starting, I think Ainsley Maitland-Niles had like a back spasm or something just before kick-off, so I got drafted in.

“I had a worldie game, played really, really well and then all of a sudden a phone call started ringing, my agent saying like ‘Oh you know mate, you were unreal last night’ and then I moved on [from Arsenal]. So, that situation was a prime example of actually, clubs just going ‘Go and train on your own’, it’s not helping anyone.”

Jenkinson made a move to Nottingham Forest in a deal valued at £1.8million, before being loaned out to Melbourne City and later signing with A-League team Newcastle United Jets in 2022. He is now a free agent after his contract with the Jets expired.