Jermain Defoe has revealed he as soon as rejected a transfer to Juventus to remain within the Premier League.
The previous England striker is the top-flight’s tenth highest scorer of all-time with 163 targets in 496 appearances.
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These strikes got here throughout spells with Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland, West Ham, Portsmouth and Bournemouth.
Nevertheless, he had the chance to maneuver to Italy previous to his second spell with Spurs.
Only a 12 months after leaving the membership for Pompey, Defoe reunited with the person who had taken him to Fratton Park.
Redknapp swooped to hyperlink up with the ahead for a 3rd time in January 2009.
It adopted their earlier time collectively at West Ham early in Defoe’s profession.
Reflecting on his return to White Hart Lane, the 42-year-old advised talkSPORT Drive: “I bear in mind again after I was at Portsmouth, and clearly Harry obtained the Tottenham job, and I went again to Tottenham.
“I obtained a telephone name just a few days earlier than that about Juventus. I used to be like, ‘I promised Harry I used to be going to return to Tottenham.’
“However even then, for me, I simply thought, I simply wish to be within the Premier League. It all the time has been the perfect league on the planet.
“After which I went to Toronto [in the MLS]. I used to be 31 on the time. However then, throughout the first few months, I knew I needed to come back again.
“I missed it a lot after which I made a decision to come back again to Sunderland.”
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Defoe went on to attain 54 targets in 121 appearances underneath Redknapp in his second spell at Spurs.
He would later depart the Premier League for the MLS in 2014 – spending 11 months with Toronto FC.
His solely different expertise exterior England got here with Scottish giants Rangers in the direction of the top of his enjoying days.
In the meantime, Defoe has admitted his shock at Jobe Bellingham’s resolution to decide in opposition to the prospect to play within the Premier League.
The 19-year-old accomplished a transfer to Borussia Dortmund from newly-promoted Sunderland final week.
He had helped the Black Cats return to the top-flight by way of the play-offs earlier than penning a five-year cope with the German membership.
Requested if he was stunned by the transfer, Defoe stated: “I used to be, to be trustworthy.
“Pay attention, it is a huge transfer. His brother [Jude] did it.
“However on the similar time, I simply thought, ‘What an opportunity to let a younger participant present how good you might be within the Premier League.’
“When a possibility comes like that, you simply do not know. Clearly as a result of his brother did it, making an attempt to observe in his brother’s footsteps.”
Jude Bellingham spent three years with Dortmund between 2020 and 2023 earlier than becoming a member of Actual Madrid for £115million.
