Jermain Defoe

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Jermain Defoe
Personal information
Full name	Jermain Colin Defoe
Date of birth	October 7, 1982 (age 24)
Place of birth	Beckton, London, England
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Number	18
Youth clubs
1998-1999	Charlton Athletic
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1999-2004 2000-2001 2004-present	West Ham United → Bournemouth (loan) Tottenham Hotspur	093 (29) 029 (18) 113 (37)
National team2
2004-present	England U21 England	023 0(7) 024 0(3)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 13:14, 25 March 2007 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 28 March 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Jermain Colin Defoe (born 7 October 1982 in Beckton, London) is an English footballer of Saint Lucian and Dominican descent. He is a striker who plays club football for Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League.

Contents 1 Club career 2 International career 3 Trivia 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Club career

Defoe started his career with Charlton Athletic, and was somewhat controversially signed by West Ham United in 1999 before having actually played a game for Charlton. West Ham were subsequently ordered to pay substantial compensation. In 2004, he joined Tottenham in a part exchange deal (that saw Bobby Zamora head in the other direction) reportedly worth £7,000,000.

Before leaving West Ham for Tottenham, Defoe had a loan spell with Second Division club Bournemouth where he scored in ten consecutive games, breaking the league record. This record still stands in English professional football. Upon West Ham's relegation Defoe angered some fans by requesting a move the day after, remniscent of the anger directed towards Paul Ince. He apologised and withdrew the request but in the subsequent season drew criticism for being sent off a number of times in short measure and in the end was sold to Tottenham.

Renowned for his blistering pace and fierce shot, often scoring from nothing Defoe burst onto the Tottenham scene with a debut goal for Tottenham against Portsmouth at White Hart Lane, in the 2003-04 season and added a further six for that season, scoring seven goals in 14 matches.

In 2004-05, he scored 13 goals in 28 matches in the Premier League and nine goals in seven matches in domestic cup competitions (FA Cup and League Cup). This impressive start for Spurs led to many believing he would become one of the leading strikers in Europe.

The following season was not as profitable for Defoe and Spurs manager Martin Jol has used Defoe in rotation after he scored just once in 13 starts; Robbie Keane and Mido provided the competition for a starting position. Defoe started 23 times and came on as substitute 13 times in the 2005-06 season, with Keane making 24 starts and 11 substitute appearances and Mido making 24 starts and 3 substitute appearances.

In the 22 October 2006 Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, Defoe bit West Ham player Javier Mascherano on the shoulder and was booked. Defoe and Spurs boss Martin Jol dismissed the incident as a joke, but Mascherano and the Government's Sports Minister Richard Caborn wanted further action taken; however, due to the match referee Steve Bennett booking Defoe for the incident the FA were powerless to act. The incident was soon forgotten.

Defoe scored his 50th goal for Tottenham in the boxing day match against Aston Villa in 2006. He scored both goals as Tottenham won the game 2-1.

In 2005 he was linked with a move to liverpool in a swap deal involving djibril cisse, but the deal never went through.

[edit] International career

Defoe has made a number of international appearances for England, scoring on his first full start for the national team on 8 September 2004 with a vital goal in the 2-1 win over Poland.

However, although named as a stand-by for Sven-Göran Eriksson's England squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Defoe did not make the trip to Germany. This decision, by then-coach Sven-Goran Erikkson, was widely derided by the English media and supporters; Defoe's replacement, then 17-year-old Arsenal reserve Theo Walcott, did not make an appearance in the tournament (and had not yet made made a Premiership appearance) and England's main striker, Michael Owen, was injured in the team's third game of the tournament.

Defoe did however start for England in Steve McClaren's first match, against Greece in a friendly at Old Trafford on 16 August 2006.

[edit] Trivia

• He has built a £3m home in Hertfordshire and is currently living there.[2]
• He is engaged to model Charlotte Meares whom he has been seeing since September 2005. They were engaged on Valentine's Day .^[1]
• He once dated David Beckham's younger sister Joanne^{[citation needed]}.
• Defoe is one of the models used by the fashion brand Projekts NYC^{[citation needed]}.
• Defoe recently appeared in the Adidas José+10 advertisements alongside other footballers such as David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Franz Beckenbauer. He plays goalkeeper in the ads, much to the amusement of the other players.
• He is a Christian.^[2]

[edit] References

his hertfordhire home is in the small village of cuffley on the ridgeway

[edit] External links

• Jermain Defoe profile at spurs.co.uk
• Jermain Defoe profile at thefa.com
• Jermain Defoe career stats at Soccerbase
• Jermaine Defoe profile and stats at footballdatabase.com
• Jermain Defoe profile at carling.com

Tottenham Hotspur F.C. - Current Squad
1 Robinson | 2 Chimbonda | 3 Lee Y.P. | 4 Zokora | 6 Tainio | 7 Stalteri | 8 Jenas | 9 Berbatov | 10 Keane | 11 Mido | 12 Černý | 13 Murphy | 14 Ghaly | 15 Malbranque | 17 Alnwick | 18 Defoe | 19 Taarabt | 20 Dawson | 22 Huddlestone | 24 O'Hara | 25 Lennon | 26 King | 28 Barnard | 29 Ifil | 30 Gardner | 32 Assou-Ekotto | 33 Rocha | 35 Dervite | 38 C. Lee | 39 Barcham | Manager: Jol