Le Professor Wenger once described Jeffers as the ‘fox in the box’. Franny’s snout has barely sniffed out a goal since
Forever known as a ‘fox in the box’ – an unfortunate tag given to him by Arsene Wenger during a three-year spell at Arsenal – Jeffers burst onto to the scene with hometown club Everton in 1997, netting 20 goals in 60 appearances and thrilling Toffees fans who thought they’d found their very own Michael Owen.
But the local lad done good turned his back on Goodison Park, opting to take his goal-poaching instincts to Highbury in a £9m move in 2001.
But injury and a loss of form left Wenger rueing a rare mistake in the transfer market and Jeffers was allowed to return to Everton on loan in 2003/04 with just four goals from 22 league games for the Gunners.
After an even more barren spell at Goodison (one in 18), Jeffers has since featured for Charlton and Blackburn, punctuated by loan spells at Rangers and Ipswich, without ever coming close to fulfilling his early promise.
He moved to Wednesday for £700,000 in August 2007 but injuries prevented him from completing a full 90 minutes in his first season with the club.