Arsenal are yet again preparing for a season without Carl Jenkinson, after West Ham stepped up their loan pursuit of the defender.
The news comes following the latest quotes from Hammers chairman, David Gold, who has assured that the club are “working hard” to secure a deal.
Whilst talking to TalkSport on Thursday afternoon, Gold confirmed that the club are in the process of bringing Jenkinson back for a second successive season;
We are working very hard to try and get Carl back here.
We recognised this is an important season for us and being in Europe we will go the extra mile to ensure we have got the strongest possible squad we can muster.
Jenkinson made an impressive 29 starts in the Premier League last season, and became a regular name on the team sheet towards the end of the campaign.
And although the Hammers boss, Sam Allardyce, recently left the club through mutual agreement, Gold has repeatedly expressed his interest in the England Under-21 international.
That will spark encouraging signs for both sets of fans, as Arsenal supporters aren’t entirely keen to let the life-long Gunners fan leave just yet.
Another season of featuring heavily at a senior will add to the experience Jenkinson recently gained at the Euro Under-21 tournament as England crashed out early on.
The 23-year-old has had trouble finding regular first team football at the Gunners since his arrival in 2011, with the likes of Mathieu Debuchy, Hector Bellerin and Calum Chambers all favoured higher in the pecking order.
But manager Arsene Wenger is reluctant to offer Jenkinson on a permanent transfer, as he looks to add depth down the right hand side in the coming years.
A loan fee in the region of £1.8million would be something similar to that of last season, and we could expect a deal to be confirmed in the coming weeks.
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