Spurs news: Replace Defoe cheaply and effectively?

By Sunshine
December 7 2005

To the vast majority of Spurs fans, the thought of the club willingly selling Defoe is as alien as cheering on Chelsea, West Ham or AFC.

Defoe, after all, is a lethal striker, a youngster with bags of potential who is already in the England squad and is destined to be the diamond tip of our forward line for the best part of this decade.

He has scored some truly inspiring goals and he looks every inch the sharp hitman who has generated murky media stories of mega-money interest from the likes of the cash rich Abramovich boys.

At £7m, David Pleat certainly signed a gem on the cheap in January 2004 and this conviction was further strengthened when Defoe notched 7 league goals in his first 14 appearances (15, actually, with one seeing him come on as substitute) for a side which was quite obviously struggling, so much so that relegation from the Primiership was not an unrealistic scenario.

The following season, 2004/05, saw the England starlet more or less keep up his rate, scoring 13 times in the league from 28 starts and 7 substitute appearances.

2005/06, though, has so far seen Defoe hit the net just 3 times in 14 games (3 from the bench).

At 23, with England experience and in a team doing better than any other Spurs side in recent history (6 seasons), the lad should be doing better. Whilst he is still undisputedly young, Defoe is no longer in the embryonic stage, he should be fast approaching a plateau of quality from which to churn out scintillating performances….that’s if you believe the hype that has surrounded him since his arrival from West Ham.

Reputations, both positive and negative, are a strange thing, they tend to linger on far longer than the facts. Defoe has an excellent reputation and his perceived value on the transfer market reflects it. His efficacy on the pitch doesn’t. Every time he gets the ball, expectation amongst the crowd rises and, this season at least, most of the time the crowd has been disappointed.

In the England set up, Defoe is Owen’s understudy. Actually, looking at the pudding (where you’ll find the proof), when push came to shove and Owen wasn’t available for a crunch qualifying match, Defoe was overlooked and Eriksson opted for a 5 man midfield and a lone striker.

Since we’re talking facts, here’s an interesting one (well, actually, it’s more an opinion than a fact, but this is my piece and I’ll write whatever I want): Defoe isn’t and will never be as good as Owen.

At this point, few will be surprised to learn that I’m not at all contrary to cashing in on our number 18 if the opportunity presents itself.

The first time I publicly expressed my thoughts, albeit in a timid, almost apologetic manner, was amongst friends at the Paul Gascoigne evening at the Grosvenor Marriot hotel in London towards the end of October. This was weeks before Defoe was dropped in favour of Keane and a while before his difficulty in finding the net had become an issue. To be perfectly honest, the thought of selling on Defoe had initially crossed my mind when Owen became available last summer and I suddenly found the hypothesis of sending Defoe to Chelsea and replacing him with Owen (who would probably cost less, but would command a far greater salary) more than a little appealing.

I am by no means ‘doing down’ Defoe, but I do not consider him an untouchable element of the side and neither does Jol, evidently. Of course, every one of us fans hopes that Defoe rediscovers his form and returns to being the cocky little gunslinger that we all know he can be. It is clear that he has worked on his game, his movement is improving and he no longer systematically gets caught offside. It is also true that he is now a marked man and that the opposition know he is not to be given any breathing space. In this day and age, where both managers and players prepare games more meticulously than ever before, the threat posed by Defoe is planned and, the opposition hope, catered for.

Does Defoe have enough in the locker to be effective despite this situation? I think he does and I believe that this testing time, with him on the bench and Robbie Keane taking the chance he’s been given so eagerly will make Defoe into a better player. Whereas the competition for his place was very much theoretical up until a short while ago, it is now a stark fact that he has to come to terms with. So far the noises that the player himself is making on the subject are all positive, but words have a tendency to ring empty if they’re not followed by commitment. We will all learn much about Defoe’s character over the next few weeks and months.

Given Defoe’s reputation, there is little doubt that he would command a sizeable fee on the transfer merry-go-round, but it would still be difficult to find a player as good as he is for that money.

We might just find someone cheaper, yet more effective, though.

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