Giroud: Almost Impossible For Chelsea

Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud has admitted it will be almost impossible for The Blues to knock out German champion, Bayern Munich in the round of 16 tie.

The blues were dominated all through the game, but their resilience was not broken until the second half when former Arsenal striker Serge Gnabry produced another masterpiece performance in London. The German scored twice while Lewandowski added the third, putting the German side firmly in control of the last 16 tie. Lewandowski’s second half goal was his 39th in 33 appearances this season. Continue reading “Giroud: Almost Impossible For Chelsea”

Defoe Set To Join Rangers

Rangers have now reached a formal agreement to sign Defoe on a loan deal which will last for 18 months that will take the former striker of England up to winding up of his contract with the club of Bournemouth.

Jermain who is at present 36 years old joined the club of Bournemouth from Sunderland on a free transfer in the month of July in 2017 but he has made only 4 appearances in this season of Premier League, and all from the bench only, and has not even scored once since the month of March last year. Continue reading “Defoe Set To Join Rangers”

MLS. REALLY?

The football experts might think that Jermain Defoe should not have taken transfer from Tottenham Hotspur to the MLS club Toronto FC as it would lessen the chances of him being selected in the England squad for the World Cup finals, but, the player himself has a different opinion. He reckons that if he performs well for Toronto, there is no reason why he can’t get the ticket to Brazil.

Defoe hasn’t left Tottenham yet though. He would stay at White Hart Lane till the end of February.

Defoe hasn’t enjoyed himself to the maximum in the Premier League this season. He has had limited chances to play and he has looked off colour almost every time he has gone out there on the pitch. With World Cup approaching, he was supposed to make an away move to get more playing opportunities, but, a move to MLS was not on the cards; that’s for sure.

Despite not having a great time at Tottenham in the recent times, Defoe’s overall record for the club still looks quite good. He has represented the Spurs 136 times in the Premier League during his 5-year long tenure and has scored close to 50 goals.

When asked if he thinks that by going to MLS, he has done himself any favour as far as his selection in the Three Lions squad is concerned, the veteran striker said, “Well, the only thing that a player can do is to perform well wherever he is playing and that’s what I will try to do. I hope that my performance there (in MLS) would help me find a place in the World Cup squad.”

Defoe has been a proven performer at the international level. He has played 55 games for the senior team of England and has found the net 19 times.

COUNTING DOWN

Jermain Defoe’s time in Tottenham seems to be counting down, with the interim coach Tim Sherwood preferring to use Adebayor and Soldado as his main attacking players. Following the departure of Andre Villas-Boas from Tottenham, Tim Sherwood was appointed as the temporarily coach until they can snatch a more suitable person for the vacant role.

Even with Sherwood at the head of the club, Defoe is still being overshadowed by his teammates although this could change in an instant depending on who will be in charge of the club in January as Tottenham still are in search of another coach.
The last appearance that Defoe managed to make was in the earlier days of December as he was placed during Tottenham’s Capital One Cup match against West Ham which they eventually lost.

It is believed that now he picked up a hamstring injury that will leave him further out of the playing fields of the main team. QPR who are now fighting in the top spots of the Championship league and hoping to snatch the top spot in order to get promoted back to the Premier League could use this chance to sign Defoe to boost their title and promotion chances.

QPR are searching for a new arrival with the assistant manager of the club Kevin Bond having said to the English media that he wants to ‘’bring in another real striker option, one who can score goals and play off someone up front’’. This is why Jermain Defoe is starting to become a much more viable option considering the situation he is going through in Tottenham.

Toronto FC is another club that might be the next destination of Jermain Defoe with some reports emerging claiming that the MLS club is preparing a $10 million move that would make him the highest paid player in the history of the MLS.

Ryan Nelsen wants Jermain Defoe in MLS

Ryan Nelsen, the manager for the Major League Soccer side Toronto FC has admitted that he would love to bring Tottenham Hotspur and England national team striker Jermain Defoe to the club.

The former New Zealand international skipper just finished his first season in charge of the Canadian outfit but he is already looking forward and planning for the new season with a lot of names as potential signings in his head. And one of those names is that of Defoe who has managed just one start for Spurs this season as he finds himself behind new Spanish recruit Roberto Soldado in the pecking order.

Nelsen is a huge fan of the former West Ham United and Portsmouth striker, having played with him for a time during his brief stint at White Hart Lane and he is keen to offer Jermain Defoe an escape route with regular first team football opportunities.

He was asked whether he would be interested in bringing Defoe to MLS and he stated that looking at what former Italian striker Marco Di Vaio has achieved, he could do the same being an incredible player. Nelsen also hailed Defoe as one of the most natural goal scorers he has ever seen, adding that he was always the first one out at training and even during training; he was trying to beat his man and get on the score sheet.

He also stated that Jermain Defoe is one of those players who could easily adapt to playing in the MLS, adding that if one asks any other club in the Premier League; they would be interested in taking the player. The Toronto FC boss also stated that he is still in contact with Defoe and they regularly exchange text messages but added that he hasn’t asked him about the move yet.

Johnson hopeful Jermaine Defoe will join QPR

Queens Park Ranger striker Andy Johnson wants Tottenham Hotspur front man Jermaine Defoe to join him at the club and believes manager Harry Redknapp will be able to convince the player to drop down a division and join the Championship side.

The England striker scored 15 goals for Spurs last season despite not being given regular games from the start and it is expected he will have to spend more time on the bench following the arrival of Spanish international striker Roberto Soldado from Valencia. Redknapp has already splashed £ 4 million to bring in England forward Charlie Austin to the club and missed out on the signing of former Celtic striker Gary Hooper, who decided to sign for Premier League club Norwich City.

Jermaine Defoe played under the former Spurs manager at West ham United, Portsmouth as well as Tottenham and according to Andy Johnson, his relationship with Redknapp might just tempt Defoe to drop down a division and prove himself once again. Johnson stated that it is a possibility because he has worked with the player before and he has himself worked with Defoe at England level for some time.

He went on to add that there are many players in the club who have been with Defoe and Harry from their time at White Hart Lane and that might tempt the England man to swap White Hart Lane for Loftus Road.

Queens Park Rangers was relegated from the Premier League last season but are considered as the favorites to bounce straight back to the top flight and Johnson believes Jermaine Defoe could take the risk and drop down a division for a year and help the club gain promotion because Queens Park Rangers is big enough to attract the top players to the club despite being in the Championship.

Tottenham Hotspur reject Real bid for Bale

Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur have apparently rejected a world record £ 85 million bid for star winger Gareth Bale from Real Madrid as they play hard ball in trying to keep their flyer at the club for one more season.

According to a report in a Spanish newspaper closely associated with Madrid, Bale has apparently told club chairman Daniel Levy that he wants UEFA Champions League football this season and would prefer joining the Spanish giants rather than Manchester United, who are also said to be monitoring his situation as they look for a marquee signing to kick off the reign of David Moyes at the club.

Spurs insists that it will take only a mind boggling offer for them to part with their star man and the £ 85 million valuation that Real have made for him falls much shorter of their own valuation. It is being reported that they want a staggering £ 103.5 million for the player they paid just a few million for back in 2007 when he moved to the club from Southampton.

But Real Madrid are not being deterred by the valuation of the player by Tottenham Hotspur and are willing to offer cash plus player in order to broker a deal with the club. It is being believed that they are willing to offer Argentine winger Angel di Maria along with £ 85 million in cash for Bale and apparently, manager Andre Villas Boas is also warming up to the idea as he sees the Argentine as a like for like replacement for the Welshman.

If Real do manage to snatch Bale from the clutches of Tottenham Hotspur, it will begin a stunning domino effect in the transfer market and the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal can only hope that the deal goes through.

TOTTENHAM CAN WIN

Tottenham goalkeeper Brad Friedel has said that the team can take confidence from the comeback that they achieved in the 2-2 draw with Basel in the quarter-finals of the Europa league on Thursday night.

Tottenham came into the encounter looking to qualify for the semifinals of the competition. However, they suffered a huge setback after going two goals down to the Swiss club. Goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Sigurdsson helped them come back into the match, but it still gives Basel the advantage in the tie due to the away goals rule.

The second leg will be at FC Basel, and Friedel has already said that the team should not be disappointed with the result. He has said that they should instead look at the positives. The way that the team managed to come back from being two goals down after just 35 min on the clock showed incredible resilience and character according to the American goalkeeper. Friedel was preferred in goal to the Frenchman, Hugo Lloris, who was on the bench.

Friedel has also said that the team should forget this result and focus on the upcoming match with Everton during the weekend. Tottenham moved into the third place of the Premier league following a 2-1 win over Swansea last weekend.

“When you’re down 2-0, to come back, we can take a little bit of encouragement from that. But we didn’t start the game well, we know that and the gaffer had some words at half-time. It will be tough out there, but we’ve got a lot of quality in our squad. I didn’t get a good view of Gareth’s (injury),” said the goalkeeper after the match. The club are currently in the race to finish in the top four ahead of Chelsea and Arsenal, who are just a couple of points behind them.

DEFOE RULED OUT

Jermain Defoe will not be able to feature for England in the upcoming friendly match against Brazil because of the ankle injury that he discovered while playing for Tottenham Hotspur in the match against West Bromwich Albion which was played yesterday.

Defoe’s left ankle got injured in the 35th minute of the match and he had to come out of the ground. Later, in the post match press conference, the manager of Tottenham, Andre Villas Boas confirmed that Defoe’s injury is severe and it could take him a few weeks to recover from this injury.

When asked about Defoe’s injury, Villas Boas said, “Defoe hasn’t yet gone for a scan, but, he is feeling pain and it seems that he might have to sit out for a few weeks.”

“It’s not good news for us as he is one of our key players. He will go for a scan and then, we will find out how much time he needs to recover. Hopefully, the ligament would not have been damaged that much and he would get fit soon.”

Tottenham has currently fallen short of attacking options as Emmanuel Adebayor is also unavailable at the moment. He is representing Togo in the Africa Cup of nations.

Some experts are saying that Andre Villas should have signed a striker during the mid season transfer window.

When asked why he didn’t sign a striker during the transfer window, Villas Boas said, “I didn’t feel the need of it. I am satisfied with the attacking options that we have got. Emmanuel Adebayor would come back in a few days and if necessary, Gareth Bale can also play as a striker. Clint Dempsey is also there. So, with a few attacking options already available, I decided not to go for a striker.”

DEFOE BACKS AVB

The Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe has come out in praise of the Portuguese manager Andre Villas-Boas, while also saying that he is extremely thankful to the support shown by the manager.

After finding himself largely on the fringes under the previous manager Harry Redknapp, Jermain Defoe has been one of the key players for Tottenham this season. He has rewarded the faith shown by the manager Andre Villas-Boas by already scoring nine goals in the league alone. He is third in the list of top scorers for this season. He has also scored 13 goals in all competitions for the club.

Even with the presence of a player like Emmanuel Adebayor, who can act as a target man, the manager has largely preferred Jermain Defoe for the important matches. It is only now that he is starting to pair the England international with the Togo striker. It is a partnership that is also showing a lot of promise, as Tottenham have currently been on a three match winning streak. This has elevated them to the fourth position in the table level on points with the European champions Chelsea, although Chelsea do have a match in hand. Finishing in the top four is one of the main objectives for Tottenham this season.

“The new manager has come in and he has shown great faith in me. He said to me from the beginning, ‘I want you to stay at the club, I know you will score goals’. It has been fantastic. I have got my chances, I have scored goals,” said the England international. Tottenham have also qualified for the next round of the Europa league and will be facing the French club Lyon. This will be a tough fixture for the Premier league club, which will also see Hugo Lloris return to his former club.