Reunited and it feels so… wrong? West Ham linked with Jermain Defoe
By Adam Smith
Another day, another transfer link to West Ham. It is no secret Pellegrini still has work to do on his team’s depth, but is a 36-year-old, former club striker really the best option to shore up the striker ranks?
It’s been confirmed by name from the infamous West Ham ITK blogger ExWHUemployee that it was, in fact, former wantaway striker Jermain Defoe who wants back in at West Ham. Defoe is currently Bournemouth’s third choice striker and has yet to register on the score sheet.
It seems like a similar link to the Gary Cahill story. Defoe, like Cahill, is nearing the end of his career but wants to remain in the Premier League getting solid minutes. This season Defoe has only played in two matches for a measly 12 minutes while registering 180 minutes in two Carabao Cup matches as well.
To be honest, this one doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t like the optics of West Ham becoming a retirement club for past-their-prime Premier League stars to end their careers at. Since making the big move to the MLS, Jermain Defoe has had flashes of brilliance in his Premier League return but his time at Bournemouth suggests time may be running out on his career.
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Defoe determined he was too big of a star to play in the MLS after scoring 11 goals in 19 games for the Reds. This wasn’t too far off of the truth as I got to watch him first hand, being a Toronto boy myself, on all of the local sports channels bashing the MLS weekly (well, when he was fit). He was the crowning jewel to a massive media campaign about him being “a bloody big deal,” and he truly was just that.
In 2014/15 he was fully back and with Sunderland, a Premier League team with a rich history. Defoe scored 4 goals in 17 games for his new team as they barely escaped relegation. The next season was great for Defoe, scoring 15 in 33 for Sunderland but the team struggled in their hunt for points and again narrowly avoided relegation.
The inevitable happened as Sunderland were relegated in 2016/17 with an embarrassing 24 points. Defoe yet again put up great numbers with 15 goals in 37 matches which earned him a transfer to safety with Bournemouth. In one season plus a few months of this season with the Cherries Defoe has scored 4 goals in 26 Premier League appearances.
Maybe its Bournemouth that can’t get the best out of him or maybe it’s him not having his best left to give, but either way Defoe would come at a minimal price to the Irons should they want to pursue him.
It came out last year in a piece by SkySports that Defoe regrets forcing a move away from West Ham when he was younger. This move now could be Defoe wanting to close the circle on his Premier League career and playing out the last year and a half of his current contract then riding off into the sunset. At 36 years of age, however, he doesn’t fit the bill of who Pellegrini wants to sign.
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Pellegrini turned down the chance to re-sign James Collins and Patrice Evra, and add in his former player Yaya Toure who was on a free all because of age and game speed. Defoe has some wheels left but he is approaching 40 mighty fast. If West Ham flips Antonio and sell Chicharito in January I could see a £1-2 million move being made for insurance purposes, but as for now it just feels wrong!