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Jermain Defoe being spotted at Heathrow yesterday was always going to lead to rumours about another return to White Hart Lane, although they started before then as he, allegedly, has become discontent with life in the MLS.
I felt a bit sorry for Jermain. He was a great servant to us over the years. There are those who will disagree and don’t like him but he scored a lot of goals for us and, I still think, he could have something to offer a Premier League side. He left last season, by the sound of it, on a promise from Roy Hodgson. One can only assume he was led to believe that if he was playing first-team football in MLS and scoring goals (which he was at the time, subject to minor injuries) he would go to the World Cup. However, Defoe was always unlucky when it came to World Cup selection (despite having a good scoring record for England too) -didn’t he lose out to Theo Walcott once upon a time, who hadn’t even kicked a ball in the Premier League at the time of selection?! Anyway, Roy Hodgson being Roy Hodgson decided to go with Rickie Lambert instead, much like Sven went with Walcott. Each to their own.
He wasn’t always first choice for Spurs either. He was often further down the pecking order, sometimes a fourth striker (remember when we had four out and out strikers? Keane, Berba, Mido and Defoe). Despite this, he persisted and kept scoring. Our record scorer in Europe and something like our fifth highest all-time scorer. He scored over 100 Premier League goals. He also holds, perhaps most tellingly, the record for most Premier League goals scored by a substitute (thanks Wikipedia). The send-off he received against Everton last season was fitting and showed how valued he was to the majority of regulars at The Lane. It’s a shame he wasn’t around to lift the Carling Cup, he deserved more success than he achieved.
I’ll say that I can’t really see him coming back for a third time, although - please bear with my sentimental side for a little longer - I think it could work (as a short term solution). Given how we are starting to play under Pochettino, I think someone like Defoe, who could cover ground in bursts and was always good (in my memory anyway) at biting at the heels of defenders, might just fit the model. It may appeal to the bargain hunter in Levy, although he doesn’t have youth on side which seems to be Poch’s preference. He’s someone who knows the Premier League and the Club and, in a season where way more goals than normal seem to be flying in from outside the box, his penchant for shooting from range wouldn’t be out of fashion. He would benefit from the extra level of fitness he would acquire working with our squad and would get a warm reception. We have a ridiculous amount of games in January after a busy Christmas period (and hopefully more FA and Europa games in February and March if we progress). It seems Adebayor has really fallen out of favour, leaving us with two strikers and the goals haven’t been flying in for Soldado on any view.
If we’re going after a proven Premier League scorer as a short term option this transfer window, there would be many worse options. I would be gutted to see him at Liverpool.
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Not gonna happen. He's actually not as good as ppl make out, is ALWAYS fking offside (does he even know the offside rule?) and is way too selfish. Bye Jermain
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