Former striker explains why the move happened. In a recent interview with gambling.com, Jermain Defoe detailed why he left Tottenham Hotspur for Portsmouth in January 2008. The former long-term striker stated, “Harry [Redknapp] was the reason I moved to Portsmouth.” I recall hanging out with Harry at West Ham when I was 16.
Then, when I was at Tottenham under Juande Ramos, it was a tough time for me because I had scored a lot of goals up until that point, and he came in and continued rotating the squad. It got to the point where I was falling behind Berbatov and Keane, and I was forced to leave the team for extended periods of time. It was quite difficult for me to deal.
I was so used to playing.And even when I came off the bench, I was scoring goals, and my overall statistics were good. I immediately realized I needed to go somewhere and play football if I wanted to be a part of the England squad. And that won’t happen unless I play.”
The 42-year-old barely spent a year on the South Coast before returning to Spurs in January 2009, but he has no regrets about the decision. “When I looked at the Portsmouth squad, I realized they were a really strong team. It was an easy option because Harry said, ‘Listen, just come here, play football, score goals, and get yourself back into the England squad.’
My team has some incredible players. We had David James in goal, Sylvain Distin, Sol Campbell (a Premier League winner), Hermann Hreiðarsson, Glen Johnson, Lassana Diarra (who signed for Real Madrid), Sulley Muntari (who joined for Inter Milan), and Milan Baroš (who won the Golden Boot at Euro 2004). In addition to myself, we acquired Peter Crouch and Niko Kranjčar later on. The team included a number of international players and ended up winning the FA Cup.
It was the right decision since I went there, gained confidence, and scored several goals. Then Harry returned to Tottenham, and I decided to return. So it was a nice year, and I enjoyed it at Fratton Park. The stadium was always rocking, and we had a strong team.” Defoe is often regarded as one of the best finishers in English football history. A pure poacher, it would be interesting to know how he would have done in this period, where back-to-back goals are more important than ever, but there are still examples of pure goal scorers, such as Erling Haaland. Despite being a Portsmouth player at the time, Defoe counts the 2008 League Cup as one of his career achievements. However, because he had previously played for Spurs in the competition, he was cup tied in the FA Cup and did not get a winners medal despite being a Portsmouth player. Funny how It works out sometimes.
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