Transfer Rumours Safc beat off 10 premier league rivals to secure the leagues 8th all time highest scorer for Jozy

It really would be silly. We all know Defoe comes alive around the box but if we can't get out of our own half it's not going to be good for him. I think we have been crying out for some pace, helps us get up the pitch and stops teams pressing us in our own half it they are scared of someone getting in behind. Surely there in someone out there sitting on a bench at a big club who can give us that?

 

Thats why i think lennon would be ideal, played and linked up well together at spurs, and is available

 

He's older. 35 i think. Signed on an emergency basis until the end of the season.

He's not 32
He's not expensive
He's still v. useful as a full back, based on the games he has played for us so far.

Does that equate to 'an expensive cycle of declining assets'?

What's your point anyway? Do you even have one?

 

Half the clubs in the Premier League are jealous of Sunderland

• 18 January 2015 08:00 AM
• Kevin Phillips

Landing Jermain Defoe is a coup, and it is no wonder that a stack of clubs are envious of the Black Cats' new signing

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Jermain Defoe signs for Sunderland
Jermain Defoe is a fantastic signing for Sunderland – but not so much for the rest of the teams in the bottom half of the table!

On behalf of the rest, I can tell you that we were all envious, and maybe even a bit jealous, of Sunderland this week.

Because Gus Poyet and Lee Congerton have pulled off a real coup in getting a top-quality, proven, Premier League goalscorer like Defoe to sign.

It is no secret that it has been a lack of goals that has held Sunderland back this season, and that’s why Defoe is exactly the kind of player they need.

In fact, he’s exactly the kind of player needed by most teams below the halfway mark, where goals can be the difference between the comfort of mid-table or a struggle – or even between survival and relegation.

I know that we at Leicester made enquiries about Defoe, but it was not a deal that we could do.

Sunderland could put together the swap package for Jozy Altidore, and they now have a striker who has scored goals wherever he has played.

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed this time last year when he moved to the MLS with Toronto.

For me, he still had a lot to offer in the Premier League.

So I am delighted to see him return, and happy for Sunderland that they have got him – even if it makes life tougher for the rest of us.

Of course, people will point to the fact that Sunderland have paid top dollar because Defoe is on high wages, and also that he is 32 years old.

But Sunderland fans should not be worried about either of those things.

I said only last week that there are few bargains in the January transfer window – especially when you are talking strikers, and strikers with a proven pedigree at that.

Goalscorers are match-winners, and they will always command a high price.

As for age, it’s just a number.

I was playing in the Premier League at 32, and I was still scoring goals in the top flight at 40!

Defoe is probably the last of a generation of ‘fox in the box’ strikers – a category in which I would class myself and the likes of Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen and others.

And Sunderland fans love to see that kind of player at work.

The problem is that, in recent years, prolific scorers have been thin on the ground on Wearside.

In fact, aside from the one season five years ago when Darren Bent hit 25, no Sunderland player has scored more than 11 Premier League goals in one season since I got 14 in 2000-01 when we finished seventh for the second year in a row.

But, as long as he gets the service he thrives upon, Defoe will score goals at Sunderland, you can be sure of that.

And he can go on to become the kind of goalscoring hero the fans have been crying out for since Bent left.

 

His movement yesterday was rusty in parts especially in link up play but that spin the box where he should of been given a penalty was world class. I was worried it might of been a last pay day for a lazy player (going off reports from other fans at other clubs) but he looked to be enjoying it too much for that to be true. Yes it was at Spurs and he would of got an extra lift from that too but I think at home with 40000 fans cheering him on we could have some striker on our hands.

 

The best bit for me was a very subtle piece of movement that allowed Fletch to play him in on his left foot. When he's a bit sharper hell just hit those early, either foot. This time the defender was just quick enough to stop him but the movement was class.