Carl Jenkinson is playing his football in Australia now

FORMER Gunners full back Carl Jenkinson has told of his pride at ‘playing a lot of football for Arsenal’ as he departed English football for a new challenge on the other side of the world.

The 30-year-old has signed a loan deal with Melbourne City, one of the top teams in the A-League and scored in a win against last week.

He was allowed to go down under by Nottingham Forest after failing to pin down a place in the team chasing for a play-off position in the Championship.

Arsène Wenger had high hopes for Jenkinson when he plucked him from Charlton Athletic as an unknown back in 2011.

But despite playing more than 40 times in the Premier League for Arsenal, he never quite matched the potential of those early scouting reports.

He served two long loan placements at West Ham and then a brief one at Birmingham City before moving to Forest.

A tribute stone outside Arsenal’s stadiun

He has not forgotten Wenger’s faith, however.

“It was an honour to play under a guy like that. He almost sees football like an art form,” Jenkinson told the Melbourne City club website.

“It was a massive education to play under him and he’s one of the best of all time in my opinion.”

He said that Wenger had tried to instil an unselfishness in his players, adding: “When you receive the ball, don’t do what’s right for you, do what’s right for the team and for the game of football.”

One of the tribute stones outside the Emirates Stadium was bought by Jenkinson for his grandfather – and his family had been Arsenal fans even before Wenger came calling.

“With time you can look at those situations, and for that to happen, to actually play for your boyhood club, is very rare,” Jenkinson said.

“Not just play once or twice, I played a lot of football for Arsenal. That’s something I’ll always be immensely proud of.”

But he said he was now focussed on A-League action with Melbourne City aiming to defend the A-League title won last year under manager Patrick Kisnorbo, once a player with Leicester City.

“I want to play football and I want to play football for a good club, and I found both here,” he said.  “I think it shows [that I want to play], as I’ve come to the other side of the world to do it.”