JERMAIN Defoe remains one of the most successful strikers in Premier League history, and today, when Sunderland entertain Bournemouth, he will come up against the team where it all began. In a frank interview, the striker told Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson about his pride at his achievements, and frustration when they are not fully recognised

JERMAIN DEFOE can remember the conversation vividly. Dick Advocaat was desperately trying to assemble a team capable of firing Sunderland to safety in the latter stages of last season, and did not feel Defoe was the right man to shoulder the goalscoring responsibilities as the leader of the line. Defoe, with more than 250 senior goals to his name, disagreed.

“When Dick was here, he pulled me aside,” said the striker, whose proven track record for scoring crucial goals stands in marked contrast to that of every other member of the Sunderland side. “He said, ‘I don’t believe that, in this team, you can play up front on your own’.

“I said, ‘Well I’ve been a lone front man for Tottenham and scored a lot of goals, and I’ve done it for England as well. Have a look – I scored a hat-trick for England against Bulgaria at Wembley playing in that role’.

“Dick was like, ‘Well, that’s my opinion’. And I was, ‘Well, I think you’re wrong’. Hopefully, Dick’s watching the games now…”

And with that, Defoe broke into a beaming smile. It’s not malice that drives him as we sit at Sunderland’s Academy of Light training ground, with the striker sporting an extravagant red bandana that is enabling him to grow out his hair, it’s more a sense of exasperation that he is still having to prove himself at such a late stage of his career.

Why that should be the case is baffling. Defoe stands 11th on the list of all-time Premier League goalscorers, and needs eight more goals to overhaul Robin van Persie and break into the top ten. It is hard to imagine too many other strikers displaying the nerve, anticipation and technique that enabled him to claim his second hat-trick of the season in Sunderland’s recent 4-2 win at Swansea, yet Advocaat is not the only person to have questioned his value.

Sam Allardyce was a doubter up until a fortnight or so ago, when the penny seemed to drop that Defoe’s goals surely represent Sunderland’s best chance of pulling off yet another ‘Great Escape’ in the remaining four months of the season.

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Yet as he prepares for this afternoon’s pivotal relegation battle with Bournemouth, Defoe faces the prospect of once again being pulled out of position in order to accommodate recent signed Dame N’Doye. Why does the most reliable goalscorer in the team always seem to be the fall guy?

“When Sam came in, I remember him saying, ‘Jermain’s a goalscorer, we all know that, but in football you need more than that’,” said Defoe. “That was frustrating to hear, but at the end of the day it was just down to me to show the manager that I’m good enough to play in the team. That I can play that lone striker role.

“When I wasn’t on my own, at times when I played up front with Fletch (Steven Fletcher), I think we had a good relationship. But I think the games I’ve played up front on my own, I’ve managed to play on the shoulder, had my chances and got my goals.

“Everyone has their opinions, but if I was a manager and I had a player in my team who ‘just scores goals’ I’d say, ‘Thank you very much’. No problem! If that’s what you’re going to do, go out and do it.”

And Defoe has been ‘doing it’ from the day he made his senior debut in a League Cup game for West Ham United, and duly scored the winner in a 1-0 victory over Walsall.

That brought him to the attention of the wider footballing world, but it was the following season when, as a raw 17-year-old, he moved on loan to Bournemouth that really catapulted him to stardom.

With Bournemouth playing in what is now League One, Defoe scored in ten successive matches, a run that saw him equal John Aldridge and Clarrie Jordan’s post-war record in the Football League.

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He has subsequently gone on to score in the World Cup finals, but he cannot recall being more nervous than the day when he took on Cambridge United looking to create history.

“I missed a chance early on, and I sort of got my head down and thought, ‘Ah, it’s gone’,” said Defoe. “But then luckily enough, I got a chance, went round the goalkeeper and finished. It was just the best feeling ever.

“It meant so much, not just to me but to all the lads as well. When you look at all the tapes and stuff, the celebrations were brilliant. I was young and I just went there for the experience - I wasn't thinking about any records.

“I was only meant to be there for a couple of months, but then Harry Redknapp (West Ham manager) said it would be good if I stayed there for the rest of the season. ‘You’re scoring goals, and it seems like you’re enjoying it’.”

That enjoyment has never disappeared. Some might question why Defoe returned from an easy life in the MLS to join Sunderland’s seemingly endless battles against relegation, and openly talks about trying to continue playing into his 40s, but that is to ignore the passion that has driven him since the earliest days of his youth.

“With me, it’s always been about loving to score goals,” he said. “My friends used to laugh at me because they’d ask, ‘Jermain, did you score today in training today?’ And I’d say, ‘Yeah’. They said I was crazy and they’d never met anyone who loved scoring goals so much.

“Right from the start, I thought I was going to be the next Ian Wright. I used to love Wrighty. I used to watch his video every night. I used to watch his movement, his finishing. Every night.

“You should ask my mum. Every night. Always Wrighty. I used to sit and watch his finishing, eat my dinner and go straight back up to my room to watch his finishing and his movement again. I just used to buzz off it. Then I’d go to training and obviously pretend I was Wrighty.”

Eventually, he would play with his idol at West Ham, but as his career has progressed, Wright hasn’t been the only striker to inspire him.

“Other heroes? Jimmy Greaves,” he said. “Clive Allen (attacking coach at Tottenham) got me a DVD of him. I’ve always watched a lot of football, but watching Jimmy Greaves and the goals that he scored was incredible.

“I noticed there was often no back lift. He would just toe-poke into the corner. So you’d go to training the next few days and practise that. Then in games, when you get chances around the box, it’s instinct and you just finish.”

As the last few weeks have proved, those instincts remain as sharp and well-honed as ever, even if they are not always adequately admired by those around him.

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“The buzz is still exactly the same,” he said. “To be honest, I don’t think I’ve had to change my game in any way. I’m not standing there thinking, ‘I’m struggling to do this’.

“I still feel fit and strong, and I can still run. I can still make my runs in behind a player’s shoulder and get myself into areas where I’m going to score goals. I think that’s a good thing."

Eventually, even Allardyce and Advocaat might agree.