Jeffrey Monakana (born 5 November 1993) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Monakana progressed through the youth system at

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, then finally in 2008, At the age of 14, Monakana was handed a four-year contract. Monakana signed a one-year deal with

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

on 31 May 2012, effective from 1 July 2012. The 18-year-old winger became the ninth summer signing for Preston manager Graham Westley. Monakana performed well in pre-season, notably his contributions against

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

. He made his full debut in a home League Cup tie against Huddersfield Town, on 13 August 2012, Playing for 70 minutes, and had an excellent game, setting Jack King up for the first goal in a 2–0 win. His first senior goal came in a second round League Cup tie against Crystal Palace. He went on to score six goals and 10 assist in his first year at professional football. In the game against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

opposing manager Uwe Rosler stating that Monakana was a handful with his pace and skill. On 12 September 2013, Monakana joined fellow League One side Colchester United on a month's loan. He scored on his debut for the club in a 2–2 draw with

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

on 14 September. On 15 October 2013, after starting every match since joining Monakana's loan was extended at the club until the beginning of December 2013. On 14 January 2014, Monakana transferred to

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

club Brighton & Hove Albion for an undisclosed fee, signing an 18-month contract with the club's development squad. On 27 March 2014, Monakana joined League One side Crawley Town on a month's loan. In July 2014, Monakana joined

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

on loan for six months. In February 2015, Monakana joined

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

on loan for a month. In March 2015, Monakana was loaned out again, joining

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

this time on loan until the end of the season. On 4 August 2015, Monakana joined

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side Bristol Rovers on a one-month loan. On 16 January 2016, Monakana signed a contract for six-months with Romanian club

FC Voluntari Fotbal Club Voluntari (), commonly known as FC Voluntari or simply Voluntari, is a Romanian professional football club based in Voluntari, Ilfov County, which competes in the Liga I. Founded in 2010, it has been playing since the 2015–16 seas ...

. On 22 December 2016, it was announced that Monakana had signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

club Sutton United. He made his first appearance for Sutton as a substitute on 1 January 2017 in a 2–0 home victory over

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

, before making his full debut on 10 January in a 1–0 away defeat against

Braintree Town Braintree Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Braintree, Essex, England. They are currently members of and play at Cressing Road. History The club was formed on 24 September 1898 as Manor Works, the works team o ...

. In August 2017 he signed a loan deal with

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football. History Welling United Foot ...

. The deal was made permanent on 17 November 2017. In March 2018, he signed for Wealdstone. He moved to

Dulwich Hamlet Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in East Dulwich in south-east London, England. They are currently members of and play at Champion Hill. History The club was formed in 1893, by Lorraine 'Pa' Wilson. T ...

, also of National League South, in June 2019. On 4 September 2020, Monakana joined Icelandic Úrvalsdeild side Fjölnir until the end of the season. In February 2021, he returned to Iceland to join 1. deild karla side

Magni Grenivík Magni Grenivík is an Icelandic sports club from the village of Grenivík, mainly known for its football team. The club has a football team currently playing in the second tier of Icelandic football also known as Inkasso-deild karla. Magni was f ...

. In March 2024, following his inability to fully recover from his injury, Monakana announced his retirement from football.

Personal life

Monakana is of DR Congolese descent.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Monakana, Jeffrey 1993 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Enfield People from Edmonton, London English men's footballers English expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football utility players Arsenal F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players FC Voluntari players Sutton United F.C. players Margate F.C. players Welling United F.C. players Wealdstone F.C. players Dulwich Hamlet F.C. players Ungmennafélagið Fjölnir players English Football League players National League (English football) players Scottish Professional Football League players Liga I players Úrvalsdeild karla (football) players Expatriate men's footballers in Romania English expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Iceland English expatriate sportspeople in Iceland Black British sportsmen English people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent