Where are they now: Francis Jeffers (video)
32-year-old Francis Jeffers has had a very long career stretching out over 16 years having played for 11 different clubs in four different countries. He was once affectionately labelled by Arsene Wenger after Arsenal signed him as ‘The fox in the box’ because of the way he poached goals at Everton. However over his career Jeffers has proved to be anything but foxy. He now plays for League Two side Accrington Stanley after spells in Scotland, Malta and Australia.
Jeffers started out at Everton making his Premier league debut at just 16, in the following years he formed a great partnership with Kevin Campbell which saw the youngster notch 20 goals in just 60 appearances. His form with the Toffees caught the eye of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger who demanded the club pay as much as it took to sign him. £8 million was the fee making him one of the most expensive signings around at the time.
In 2001 at the age of just 20 Jeffers had the world at his feet, he had just signed for one of the top clubs in England and gained his first full England cap against Australia also scoring. That was to be the only full international cap he ever received though his time at Arsenal was marred by injury and dismal performances, he only managed to muster nine goals in 40 appearances before Wenger decided enough was enough. He was subsequently sold to Charlton for just £2.6 million.
Since then he has had spells with various Championship clubs including Blackburn, Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday all of them just as unsuccessful as his time at Arsenal. He turned his hand to football on a different continent signing for Newcastle United Jets in Australia. His time there saw a small improvement in performance but still only one goal before being let go due to not being able to negotiate a contract.
‘The fox in the box’ then joined Motherwell in Scotland to try and resurrect his career in what should have been his prime. However it was the same old story for Jeffers another poor spell just in a different team.
In 2012 Jeffers was thrown a curve-ball when he was given the chance to join 25 times Maltese league champions Floriana he only made two appearances though scoring one goal before being told by the club they couldn’t afford to pay him. His final destination or so it seems is Accrington Stanley he has so far made seven appearances for the club scoring twice and he plans to continue into next season.
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