Jones anxious for Premiership return.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express).
In-demand T&T striker has one aim...
Two years ago, Kenwyne Jones made his England Premier League bow as a late substitute in a 2-0 win for Southampton against the world famous Liverpool Football Club.
A start followed soon after in a 2-1 away loss at Birmingham before then Southampton boss Harry Redknapp farmed Jones out to Stoke City on loan. Southampton was relegated that season and the 22-year-old Trinidad and Tobago player has not tasted England's top flight game since.
It is a yearning that might soon be remedied if newly promoted Derby County get their way. The "Rams", who eliminated Southampton in the 2006/07 Play Offs, want to break their transfer record to sign the former Vibe CT105 W Connection and St Anthony's College utility player. "He a young player of good goal-scoring ability, great pace and stature," said Derby manager Billy Davies.
Jones makes his first appearance of the 2007/08 England Championship Division season today when Southampton host Crystal Palace, but admitted that the lure of the Premiership is hard to ignore. "Definitely if any team from the Premiership shows an interest in you," Jones told the Express, "you would be interested. It is a very appealing opportunity."
Southampton boss Craig Burley, who left Derby in acrimonious circumstances in 2005, does not want to do business with his former employers though, while his board complained to the English Football Association about Derby's "unsolicited and unwelcome approach" that "substantially undervalues his ability and potential as a Premiership-quality striker in the making".
For his part, Jones claimed to be flattered by Southampton's valuation of his services and is prepared to bide his time and continue his education under Burley. "It has been three years and I have played in all the divisions and learnt a lot from all of them," said Jones. "Some people are lucky to move up a division and have success straight away but it depends on the environment you find yourself in..."
Jones was used as a central defender or wing back by Bertille St Clair, Rene Simoes and Stuart Charles-Fevrier for national senior, youth and club team, respectively, before he was finally allowed to operate upfront in England. (He did have spells as a striker at St Anthony's.)
He set a club record while on loan at Sheffield on Wednesday, with goals in six successive matches and, after some lean periods with Stoke and Southampton, made his best return last season with 16 items.
"I still have plenty football ahead of me and I know I can do better," said Jones.
Jones wants to bring his form to the "Soca Warriors", with whom his 30 caps, including two World Cup final appearances, has yielded just three goals-all his items were in friendly matches at the Hasely Crawford Stadium against Bermuda, Peru and Panama, respectively.
"I won't judge myself on that statistic," said Jones. "That (statistic) does not explain that, when I came onto the team, I played in defence or defensive midfield. These coming years, if I get back on the national team, I will try to make up for that.
"Then you can judge me on my caps-to-goals ratio."
He explained that his national aspirations were not dimmed by Trinidad and Tobago's appearance at Germany 2006 and vowed to do everything he could to play in another World Cup.
"I just hope that the current situation with the players and the administrators gets sorted out," he said. "After all the excitement and highs of playing in a World Cup, it is sad to see the downward slide we have taken."
In the meantime, he plans to continue his forward schooling, starting against Crystal Palace today. Hopefully, a Premiership promotion is not far away either-with or without Southampton.
