IN 1997, Sunderland signed a diminutive southern striker, who had carved out a reputation for coming alive in the confines of the penalty area. Three years later, and he became the first English striker to win the European Golden Boot.
Fast forward another 14 years, and the club are at it again. Another diminutive southern striker, another player whose strength lies in his finishing ability and his knack of being in the right place at the right time inside the 18-yard box.
It would be both unfair and unrealistic to assume that the latest acquisition will achieve quite as much as his predecessor. But if you’re going to try to emulate anyone, you might as well as set your sights high. And as Jermain Defoe prepares to make his Sunderland home debut in Saturday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie with Fulham, he has hardly shied away from cultivating comparisons with a Black Cats great.
“I know what Kevin Phillips did up here, and I know how much of a legend he was,” said the 32-year-old, who arrived on Wearside as the ninth highest-scoring Englishman in the history of the Premier League. “I’ve watched that season when he got 30 goals on The Premier League Years a few times – it always seems to be on – and to get 30 goals was incredible.
“As a forward, you look at a player like that and think, ‘Wow, I would love to do something similar’ because you know what it will be like if you do it somewhere like this.
“I know at the minute people associate me with Tottenham, but that’s understandable because I was there for nine or ten years. It’s like Steven Gerrard and Liverpool – even if he went to LA Galaxy for ten years, it would still be ‘Gerrard – Liverpool’.
“After I’ve been here for three years or longer, if people turn around and say, ‘He played for Tottenham and Sunderland, and scored goals and was successful’, I would love that. That would be really special.”
Time will tell, but for all that Defoe’s arrival on Wearside was accompanied by talk of multi-million pound contracts and three-and-a-half year deals, the Londoner does not come across as someone looking for a final pay deal before hanging up his boots.
Yes, he has just moved from Toronto FC in the MLS, a league that has become synonymous with once-famous English players heading across the Atlantic to wind down in a flurry of dollars, but he is either a very good actor or he genuinely did not regard his move to North America as the beginning of the end.
He certainly didn’t imagine it would put an abrupt stop to his international career, costing him a place at last summer’s World Cup finals in the process, or lead to an immediate longing for the passion and profile of the Premier League, something he now admits he took for granted earlier in his career.
“I was devastated when I took that phone call (telling him he was not going to Brazil),” said Defoe. “I was involved in every squad and, if I’m honest, I thought I was going. When I got that phone call, it was hard.
“At the back of my mind, I thought the main reason was because I’d left the Premier League. I think the manager looked at that and thought there were players in the Premier League who were performing there and deserved to go more than I did. I was in another country.
“But even before that, I always thought, ‘I miss the Premier League’. Look at someone like (Mario) Balotelli, even he said he missed the Premier League when he left. That’s normal, and you can’t crucify someone for saying that.
“I enjoyed it in Toronto and met some good people. It was exciting. I remember my first game against Seattle, I came out on a red carpet with fireworks and I was thinking, ‘Wow’. It was a good experience, but I missed the Premier League and that was the main reason I came back. This is where I want to be.”
Having decided to return to England, Defoe was presented with a choice of half the clubs in the Premier League. He wouldn’t admit it, but money was surely a factor, and while Sunderland have downplayed talk of £80,000-a-week wages, when Harry Redknapp is admitting he couldn’t afford a deal, the sums are hardly likely to be inconsequential.
Sunderland’s offer of a long-term deal was another major inducement, but ultimately it was the recommendations of a couple of close friends and the persuasive powers of Gus Poyet that proved decisive.
“I’ve thought before, ‘If I have to leave Tottenham, then I want to go somewhere where the stadium is unbelievable and they have great fans’ – and I’d always thought I’d like to come here,” he said. “I spoke to Darren Bent and he said it was unbelievable, and so did Danny Rose. These are my friends, people I trust.
“I also think it helps when you know the manager. He was on the coaching side of things with Juande Ramos at Tottenham and was a good coach, someone who has done well and knows the game. That does play a big factor.”
The main challenge now is to live up to his billing as Sunderland’s goalscoring saviour, a player who guarantees a goal every other game and will remove any prospect of relegation via a couple of flicks of his right foot.
“Can I guarantee goals? I suppose I’ll have to, it’s as simple as that,” he said. “I believe I’ll get the chances to score goals here, and I’m looking forward to it. I believe I’ll score goals and we have a good team here.
“I’m really excited. I’ve had a good rest and I still feel sharp. I’m scoring in training and hopefully I’ll take that into the matches.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel