Jermain Defoe has been left frustrated at the lack of first-team football at Spurs in recent seasons but now under manager Andre Villas-Boas, the England striker may well get his chance, and showed for England last night just what he can do, bagging the winner against Italy.
It is baffling how a striker of Jermain Defoe’s ability has not been able to cement a place in the starting eleven at White Hart Lane during his time there but now the club may have no other option than to make him their first-choice striker.
With the attempts to sign Emmanuel Adebayor from Manchester City on a permanent basis dragging on and on and looking increasingly unlikely to be successful, next season Defoe will be the most experienced striker alongside only Giovani Dos Santos and Harry Kane.
Spurs are said to be interested in Brazil forward, Leandro Damiao who scored six goals for his country at the Olympics but would have to pay Internacional around £40 million for the player. So just like a deal for Adebayor, this looks unlikely – even if they finally sell Luka Modric to Real Madrid and have some cash to burn, it’s extremely doubtful they’ll spend it all on the Brazilian.
Defoe loves Tottenham and has made no secret of the fact that he wants to stay at the club. Last season Defoe was too often left out by Harry Redknapp as he preferred to play Rafael van der Vaart just off of Adebayor instead of playing a conventional two up-front.
Andre Villas-Boas prefers to use a 4-3-3 formation so this could be good news for Defoe but if he starts the new season where he finished the last, on the bench, the former West Ham and Portsmouth hit-man may well be out of White Hart Lane as quick as a flash – and you couldn’t blame him.
Before the start of last season and with the European Championships coming up in Poland and Ukraine, Defoe didn’t spend his summer lounging around on a beach somewhere, instead he put himself through a grueling training camp in France in order to guarantee his sharpness for the forthcoming campaign. All of that effort was is vain though as he was continually used as a substitute by Redknapp.
Though the majority of Defoe’s appearances came off the bench, he still went on to score 17 goals last season, proving that the striker never fails to be a threat to the opposition. This is the kind of stat which has attracted the likes of Queens Park Rangers, Aston Villa, Sunderland and Reading to the striker who has scored over 100 Premier League goals.
Tottenham are still to talk to Defoe about a new contract with his current one running out in two years and it’s safe to say, it will be their loss if he leaves any time soon.
Tottenham fans, what do you think?
image: © OliverN5
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