| Jermain Defoe | ||
| Forward | 2004-2008 & 2009-2014 | |
Full name : – Jermain Colin DEFOE
Born on 7th October 1982 in Beckton, London, England.
Height : 1.64 m (‘ “)
Weight : 65.4kg (10st 4lbs)
Jermain Defoe is one of the most unlikely players to court controversy, but it seems to have followed him around during his career.
It all started when West Ham United signed him as a 16 year old from Charlton Athletic, who were outraged that they only had to settle for a small compensation payment in return for a player they had on their books since he was 10.
His schooling in East London had seen him attend St. Joachim’s Primary School in Custom House and St. Bonaventures Secondary School in Forest Gate, but as part of his football education, Harry Redknapp sent the striker off to his former club AFC Bournemouth to get some first team experience. Jermain scored 10 goals in 10 consecutive league games for the Cherries to equal a Post-War goal-scoring record and in all, he hit 19 goals in 31 games for the South Coast club in a spell that made him into a better player.
At West Ham he came through their youth system with players such as Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand.
He stayed at the club after some of the other big names had left, but his transfer request the day after the Irons had been relegated was taken as a snub by many of their fans and although he remained at the club for another six months, he was not popular among certain sections of the Boleyn Ground support. When Spurs persisted in their interest in him at the end of the transfer window, West Ham were in need of the £6 million offered and Spurs had bagged themselves a bargain, while other clubs dithered over whether they would pay that much for the talented front man.
Defoe has the natural ability to score goals. His touch in the box is good and he has the ability to manufacture a yard of space to get past a marker or engineer a shooting chance. While his height might have been a factor for some clubs to query his ability to withstand the physical rigours of the Premiership, he has worked on his upper body strength to be able to hold up the ball and hold off defenders. Having a low centre of gravity helped that too, but the power in his shooting was developed over years of practice and often caught keepers unaware generating that from hardly any back-lift.
The competition for starting places in the forward line at Tottenham was strong, with Robbie Keane, Mido and Dimitar Berbatov all vying with Jermain for two spots in the team. Many said that Defoe and Keane cannot play together, but they showed they can partner each other on occasions, while Jermain has linked well with both big men.
He had a major disappointment when left out of the 2006 England World Cup squad by Sven Goran Eriksson, but showed good character in fighting to get his place in the Spurs team and the England squad back.
Despite his appointment as captain in the Spurs Premier League game against Sunderland in January 2008, the long reported interest in him came to fruition, as he left to join Portsmouth for a reported £9 million in the transfer window that month, as he sought to get regular first team football and regain his England place.
In a strange twist of fate, manager Harry Redknapp left the South Coast club to take over as manager of Tottenham in October 2008 and in the following January transfer window, he made a move to bring the player back to White Hart Lane in a £15 million deal, of which Spurs only had to find the £5 million balance, once the money still owed to Tottenham for the purchases of Defoe, Pedro Mendes and Younes Kaboul and the £4 million sell-on clause money was taken into account.
When Defoe returned to Tottenham he hit some of the richest form of his career, culminating in the five goals he scored against Wigan Athletic at home in 2009 and another two hat-tricks that season as he forced his way into the ultimately disappointing England 2011 World Cup team that reached the second round in South Africa, thanks to Jermain’s goal against Algeria.
Starting the 2010-11 season very well for England, although he had been carrying a groin injury since the summer tournament, he scored a hat-trick against Bulgaria in a Euro 2012 qualifier before picking up an ankle ligament injury against Switzerland in the following game, which ruled him out for three months and the majority of the Spurs Champions League group matches.
His 2011-12 season was preceded by visits to a French fitness coach to build himself up for the campaign, but he was not always a first choice, often being used as a back up striker behind loan signing Emmanuel Adebayor. When he was selected or came on from the bench, he maintained his good scoring rate, which carried on, with Jermain becoming the club’s record European goal-scorer. However, with lack of first team opportunities on a regular basis and with the World Cup coming up in the summer, Defoe agreed to join Toronto FC for £6 million in February 2014, bringing to an end his association as one of the club’s best goal-scorers for a generation.
Jermain’s stay in Canada didn’t last long and in January 2015, he signed a three year deal with Sunderland, to play for manager Gus Poyet, who he played alongside in the Tottenham team. While at the club he developed a close friendship with Bradley Lowery, a six year old with a rare form of cancer and raised lots of money for the child’s charity. His goals could not prevent Sunderland being relegated in 2017 and at the expiry of his contract he signed a deal to play for AFC Bournemouth, meaning he could continue his Premier League career.
Jermain played regularly in his first season at the Vitality Stadium, but his second saw him fall out of favour to younger forwards and in January 2019 he moved to Glasgow Rangers on an 18 month loan, which was to be turned into a permanent move in the summer of 2020. The move was to his liking, hitting nearly a goal every two games during the loan spell. When manager Steven Gerrard left the club, Jermain was part of a four man team who oversaw the first team until a new boss was appointed, but he left Glasgow Rangers on 12th January 2022, signing for his former club Sunderland on 31st January on a short term deal that eventually brought his retirement after two months with the Wearsiders.
Off the pitch, Defoe has had a string of model/celebrity girlfriends, who he often broke up with after newspaper exposés and attracted a lot of attention for a number of motoring offences, which also saw him take legal action against the Police for harassment when he was put into a Police cell hours before Spurs were due to fly off for an away game in Europe in 2009.
A much loved figure at Tottenham despite not quite being “one of our own”, Defoe remained popular and spoke with affection about the club every time he returned to Spurs, eventually taking on a coaching role with the Academy in August 2022 with a role as a club ambassador included. Taking charge of the Under-18s, he was highly regarded but in March 2024, he left the club with an eye to becoming a manager elsewhere.
NICKNAME : – Jay D.
Career Record
| Club | Signed | Fee | Debut | Apps | Goals |
| Charlton Athletic (Academy) | – | £- | ??? | – | – |
| West Ham United (Scholarship) | July 1999 | £400,000 | ??? | – | – |
| West Ham United (Professional) | October 1999 | £- | 19th September 2000 v Walsall (League Cup) (Away) Won 1-0 (as a sub; scored once) | 105 | 41 |
| AFC Bournemouth | October 2000-May 2001 | Loan | Stoke City (Division 2) (Away) lost 1-2 (scored once) | 31 | 19 |
| TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | 2nd February 2004 | £7,000,000 | 7th February 2004 v Portsmouth (Premier League) (Home) Won 4-3 (scored once) | 177 | 64 |
| Portsmouth | 31st January 2008 | £9,000,000 | ??? | 36 | 17 |
| TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | 9th January 2009 | £15,000,000 | 11th January 2009 v Wigan Athletic (Premier League) (Away) Lost 0-1 | 186 | 79 |
| Toronto FC (Canada) | 28th February 2014 | Undisclosed | 15th March 2014 v Seattle Sounders (Away) (MLS) Won 2-1 (scored twice) | 21 | 12 |
| Sunderland | 16th January 2015 | Swap with Jozy Altidore | 17th January 2015 v Tottenham Hotspur (Away) (Premier League) Lost 1-2 | 93 | 37 |
| AFC Bournemouth | 1st July 2017 | Free | 12th August 2017 v West Bromwich Albion (Away) (Premier League) Lost 0-1 (as a sub) | 28 | 4 |
| Glasgow Rangers | 6th January 2019 | Loan | 23rd January 2019 v Kilmarnock (Away) (Scottish Premier League) Lost 1-2 (scored once) | 52 | 25 |
| Glasgow Rangers | 30th June 2020 | Free | ??? | 22 | 7 |
| Sunderland | 31st January 2022 | Free | 7 | 0 |
Tottenham Hotspur career
– League appearances; – goals
– FA Cup appearances; – goal
– League Cup appearances; – goals
– European appearances; – goals
Honours
England international
57 full caps (22+35 as a sub); 20 goals Debut – Sweden (away) Friendly March 2004 Lost 0-1
23 Under-21 caps; 7 goals
6 Under-18 caps; 0 goals
8 Under-16 caps; 0 goals
7 Under-15 caps; – goals
FA Cup winner – (-)
FA Cup runner-up – (-)
FA Charity Shield winner – (-)
Second Division Champion – (-)
He scored the 14,000th goal in Premiership history in the game against Birmingham City on Boxing Day 2005.
Played the 250th senior game of his career at Blackburn Rovers on 19th November 2006.
Scored his 300th career club goal against Livingston on 25 October 2020.
50th Premier League goal – second goal scored against Wigan Athletic (home) on 26th November 2006
50th goal for Tottenham – second goal scored against Aston Villa on 26th December 2006
250th career Premier League appearance – v Everton on 09th May 2009
400th career total appearance – v Bolton Wanderers on 1st May 2010
100th Premier League goal – WBA (Home) on 23rd April 2011
200th club career goal v Chelsea (home) on 20th October 2012
400th career league appearance – v Aston Villa on 26th December 2012
150th PL goal scored for Sunderland v Hull City (home) on 19th November 2016
Last goal for Spurs v Man City (home) on 21st April 2013
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