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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/sunderland/11347954/Sunderlands-signing-of-Jermain-Defoe-would-be-the-best-January-transfer-signing-ever.html
Sunderland's signing of Jermain Defoe would be the best January transfer signing ever
Toronto gain a player who had become a joke on Wearside - albeit a fondly thought of one - while Sunderland have closest thing you can to guaranteeing goals
Sunderland's signing of Jermain Defoe would be the best January transfer signing ever
Saying the day: Sunderland hope Jermain Defoe will help them in their bid to avoid the drop Photo: ACTION IMAGES
By Luke Edwards
Sunderland’s capture of Jermain Defoe could just be the best piece of transfer business done in the January transfer window, ever.
The Black Cats have somehow managed to swap Jozy Altidore, a striker who has scored one Premier League goal for them in 18 months – and two in two-and-a-half seasons in English football – for a forward who is the ninth highest goalscorer in the history of the competition.
In other words, they have swapped a player with Toronto who, with the best will in the world, had become a joke on Wearside – albeit a fondly thought of one – for the closest thing you can get to guaranteeing goals in English football.
To make that deal happen, they will pay Defoe around £20k-a-week more than they were paying Altidore.
I have seen some people describe the impending signing of Defoe as a sign of desperation. I even get the impression Sunderland are being mocked.
The critics, the snipers and the smirkers have suggested the transfer is a ridiculous gamble, by a desperate club, that will achieve little more than swell a 31-year-old’s pension pot.
Well, the latter part of that statement is true. Defoe will benefit enormously financially from the move, but while you may have been told he will earn £80,000-a-week for the next three-and-a-half years at the Stadium of Light, that is not his basic weekly wage.
For Defoe to earn that headline-grabbing figure he will have to win every single bonus available to him and as Sunderland haven’t won a trophy since 1973 and haven’t played in Europe since then either, that’s unlikely.
Then again, if he does activate those clauses, I doubt there is a Sunderland player or employee who will have time to whine about the waste of money in the middle of the delirious celebrations that would follow the club’s most successful campaign in a generation.
Every transfer is a gamble, of course, but I don’t think anyone can deny Defoe does not improve Sunderland’s squad. There were plenty of other clubs interested in signing him, including Crystal Palace and QPR, for a reason.
He is the type of player Sunderland have missed since Darren Bent ran off to join Aston Villa three years ago. He adds another dimension to the team offensively, whether he is starting games or coming off the bench – and he has scored more goals as a sub than anyone else in English football.
Defoe is a poacher; a natural born goalscorer. He is a finisher. He is the type of player who can do very little for 89 minutes, but still pop up with a vital goal in a vital game. Sunderland’s major problem under Gus Poyet has been scoring goals.
Defoe’s arrival should go some way to remedying that, just as it should make sure they do not have any major relegation fears between now and May.
He is a completely different to the other strikers at the club. Steven Fletcher is a good player, but he has been playing as a lone frontman under Poyet in front of a midfield that puts defensive solidity above creative flair.
Connor Wickham is a decent prospect, but has much still to prove. The arrival of Defoe will give him someone to learn from, as well as competition. The immediate impact may mean he is dropped. It’s up to him how he responds. It’s the sort of test he needs to overcome.
Normally, I’d worry that a young English striker is being deprived regular first team football by someone coming to the end of his career, but not in this case.
Wickham has had plenty of chances, he has started virtually every game this season, and has not convinced he is developing as he should. He does not deserve to be guaranteed a place in the side.
Defoe’s best years may well be behind him, but the fact is, in the modern era, players play longer. A striker in his 30s, is no longer automatically in decline.
Defoe will have to prove he is not just after one last, lucrative pay day. People will question his hunger and determination – as they did very loudly during his time in the MLS with Toronto – if he has a barren spell, but hopefully that experience in Canada means he returns to England with a point to prove.
There is a risk Defoe is more interested in his wage packet than performances, that a three-and-a-half year contract is a comfort blanket as he winds down his career, but that is where the manager comes in.
Poyet and Defoe share an agent – Aaron Lincoln – which is probably another reason the player has ended up at the Stadium of Light and not returned to his native London. There is less chance they will fall out as it is not in the agent’s interest to let that happen.
Finally, Defoe will not score goals on his own. He normally needs others to create chances for him, which may mean Poyet has to shelve his favoured 4-1-4-1 formation and play two up front. Systems, though, can change. Good managers adapt to the resources at their disposal.
Poyet gives the impression he is a good manager and if his side do create chances, Defoe will convert far more of them than he misses.
Sunderland have signed a player who makes them better and they have managed to do it without paying a transfer fee in the most difficult window. Defoe for Altidore looks like the deal of the decade.
Sunderland's signing of Jermain Defoe would be the best January transfer signing ever
Toronto gain a player who had become a joke on Wearside - albeit a fondly thought of one - while Sunderland have closest thing you can to guaranteeing goals
Sunderland's signing of Jermain Defoe would be the best January transfer signing ever
Saying the day: Sunderland hope Jermain Defoe will help them in their bid to avoid the drop Photo: ACTION IMAGES
By Luke Edwards
Sunderland’s capture of Jermain Defoe could just be the best piece of transfer business done in the January transfer window, ever.
The Black Cats have somehow managed to swap Jozy Altidore, a striker who has scored one Premier League goal for them in 18 months – and two in two-and-a-half seasons in English football – for a forward who is the ninth highest goalscorer in the history of the competition.
In other words, they have swapped a player with Toronto who, with the best will in the world, had become a joke on Wearside – albeit a fondly thought of one – for the closest thing you can get to guaranteeing goals in English football.
To make that deal happen, they will pay Defoe around £20k-a-week more than they were paying Altidore.
I have seen some people describe the impending signing of Defoe as a sign of desperation. I even get the impression Sunderland are being mocked.
The critics, the snipers and the smirkers have suggested the transfer is a ridiculous gamble, by a desperate club, that will achieve little more than swell a 31-year-old’s pension pot.
Well, the latter part of that statement is true. Defoe will benefit enormously financially from the move, but while you may have been told he will earn £80,000-a-week for the next three-and-a-half years at the Stadium of Light, that is not his basic weekly wage.
For Defoe to earn that headline-grabbing figure he will have to win every single bonus available to him and as Sunderland haven’t won a trophy since 1973 and haven’t played in Europe since then either, that’s unlikely.
Then again, if he does activate those clauses, I doubt there is a Sunderland player or employee who will have time to whine about the waste of money in the middle of the delirious celebrations that would follow the club’s most successful campaign in a generation.
Every transfer is a gamble, of course, but I don’t think anyone can deny Defoe does not improve Sunderland’s squad. There were plenty of other clubs interested in signing him, including Crystal Palace and QPR, for a reason.
He is the type of player Sunderland have missed since Darren Bent ran off to join Aston Villa three years ago. He adds another dimension to the team offensively, whether he is starting games or coming off the bench – and he has scored more goals as a sub than anyone else in English football.
Defoe is a poacher; a natural born goalscorer. He is a finisher. He is the type of player who can do very little for 89 minutes, but still pop up with a vital goal in a vital game. Sunderland’s major problem under Gus Poyet has been scoring goals.
Defoe’s arrival should go some way to remedying that, just as it should make sure they do not have any major relegation fears between now and May.
He is a completely different to the other strikers at the club. Steven Fletcher is a good player, but he has been playing as a lone frontman under Poyet in front of a midfield that puts defensive solidity above creative flair.
Connor Wickham is a decent prospect, but has much still to prove. The arrival of Defoe will give him someone to learn from, as well as competition. The immediate impact may mean he is dropped. It’s up to him how he responds. It’s the sort of test he needs to overcome.
Normally, I’d worry that a young English striker is being deprived regular first team football by someone coming to the end of his career, but not in this case.
Wickham has had plenty of chances, he has started virtually every game this season, and has not convinced he is developing as he should. He does not deserve to be guaranteed a place in the side.
Defoe’s best years may well be behind him, but the fact is, in the modern era, players play longer. A striker in his 30s, is no longer automatically in decline.
Defoe will have to prove he is not just after one last, lucrative pay day. People will question his hunger and determination – as they did very loudly during his time in the MLS with Toronto – if he has a barren spell, but hopefully that experience in Canada means he returns to England with a point to prove.
There is a risk Defoe is more interested in his wage packet than performances, that a three-and-a-half year contract is a comfort blanket as he winds down his career, but that is where the manager comes in.
Poyet and Defoe share an agent – Aaron Lincoln – which is probably another reason the player has ended up at the Stadium of Light and not returned to his native London. There is less chance they will fall out as it is not in the agent’s interest to let that happen.
Finally, Defoe will not score goals on his own. He normally needs others to create chances for him, which may mean Poyet has to shelve his favoured 4-1-4-1 formation and play two up front. Systems, though, can change. Good managers adapt to the resources at their disposal.
Poyet gives the impression he is a good manager and if his side do create chances, Defoe will convert far more of them than he misses.
Sunderland have signed a player who makes them better and they have managed to do it without paying a transfer fee in the most difficult window. Defoe for Altidore looks like the deal of the decade.
