Sunderland will lose star man Jermain Defoe on a free transfer if they fail to avoid relegation from Premier League Jermain Defoe can leave Sunderland for nothing if the club lose their top flight status The 34-year-old has a contract clause which allows him to depart for nothing Both Bournemouth and West Ham have previously shown interest in the striker David Moyes' side are currently bottom and seven points adrift of safety Defoe has returned to the England set up and scored against Lithuania in 2-0 win By Craig Hope PUBLISHED: 16:50 BST, 29 March 2017 | UPDATED: 17:08 BST, 29 March 2017 England striker Jermain Defoe can leave Sunderland on a free transfer if they are relegated from the Premier League, Sportsmail can confirm. The clause in the 34-year-old’s contract is sure to spark a scramble for his signature among top-flight clubs. The Black Cats are currently bottom of the table and seven points adrift of safety despite Defoe scoring 14 times in the league this season. please log in to view this image Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe will be able to leave the club on a free if they are relegated And he will be free to quit the Wearsiders should David Moyes’ side succumb to the increasing inevitability of relegation to the Championship. Bournemouth and West Ham have a longstanding interest in their former player, but his return to the England set-up could alert others in the top half of the Premier League. Sunderland gambled on not selling Defoe in the January transfer window - there was a £6m bid from West Ham - and they are still hoping that his goals can see them pull off another great escape. please log in to view this image The striker has scored 14 goals for the Black Cats this season, but they are seven points adrift But the club’s hierarchy know they will get nothing back for their star player if they fail to beat the drop. Defoe has already hinted that he will be forced to leave the club if they go down. After making a scoring return to the international scene during Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Lithuania, the forward was encouraged by the comments of manager Gareth Southgate about his chances of staying in the squad for Russia 2018. Defoe will not want to jeopardise that opportunity and the free-transfer clause at least avoids a situation where he has to demand a move away from the Stadium of Light, preserving his popularity with supporters.
What a poor article. \ok so he may be able to leave for free if we are relegated but a "gamble" and the thought we would begrudge him leaving if we went down is crackers imo
I don't get why that clause would be in there, can anyone shed any light on it? Not a big deal anyway we wouldn't have got anything significant for him.
if Dosey Imadonkey is worth 6m then Defoe is worth at least 12m no one can get a player that good for free, and why are the papers giving out his contract details , or is it his agent someone wants to put him in the shop window
Not certain but fear Maggie Byrne was involved in drawing up the contract. But seeing how he has kept us for the past 2 seasons I would have hoped the contract would have been improved and the clause removed. Probably too many changes were going on in the club. Hopefully he'll be with us in the prem next season.
I just don't get why there's a clause in there that only benefits the 'buying' club. No money for Sunderland and no cut for his agent, doesn't make sense. It's not like he has to be free or nobody would want him.
If he leaves on a free he'll be able to dictate where he goes, not the club. Also, he'll probably be able to negotiate a hefty signing on fee due to there being no transfer fee involved wherever he ends up. Let's be honest, if you look back when we swapped that donkey Altidore for Defoe we'd have been happy knowing this was in place just to get the deal done and just to get Defoe to sign.
I would have thought that his signing on fee would have little bearing on his transfer fee, or the other way round rather, and that he'd have his pick of any team outside the top five or so regardless of him being free or not but you might be right.
Just offering some alternatives. For what it's worth I'm not so sure he's as mercenary as most these days but you never know.
I don't think he is no, seems like all he wants in life is to be scoring goals. It's a joke that we've got a goal scorer as top quality as him at the club and we've failed to give him good enough service to keep us up. The majority of his goals have been despite us not because of us.
I agree, but we cannot be relying on one man to be our savior mate. The club neglected to strengthen the squad in the right area's IMO and this has been our downfall for years now, we have never had a decent quality midfield capable of supplying the strikers for quite a while now. Instead we have a bunch of crocks who spend most of the season on the physio's treatment table. It has to stop otherwise we will never move forward.
we'll get nowt for him anyway cos he is just a moderate injury away from being finished. Plus we'll want him off the wage bill asap rather than keep paying him whilst we haggle over a price.
If he said "I leave now or you give me that clause?" then that would be the only possible reason I can see for it (if it's true) I don't necessarily think he's "mercenary" more that he wants to keep playing at the top level and if that meant telling the club to add that clause then so be it
We were swapping him and a few quid for Altidore. I think we'd have agreed to almost anything to get him to sign!
To think you turned down what £7-£10M for him in January from West Ham! Now they will get him on a free! It's not like you have any other players to sell to help with the amount of money your about to lose!! I also admire the fact that you Mutant Mackems are all talking about how he will leave and wage budget etc like you have already condemned yourself to relegation. To be fair it is a foregone conclusion, just waiting for the weeks to pass by and it becomes mathematically confirmed. I would be worried if I was a dirty Mackem, Club consistently losing money, owner who wants to sell, the squad is made up of 1990's everton players and David Moyes in charge! I canny see you getting back up for quite some time.
