The Daily Mirror is reporting that MLS side Toronto FC, Tottenham Hotspur, and striker Jermain Defoe have agreed on a transfer that will take place in the January transfer window.
The deal calls for the English striker to be paid £90,000 per week and for Toronto FC to pay a £6 million transfer fee to the White Hart Lane based club.
The 31-year-old Defoe recently became Spurs all-time leader in European goals and has had quite the run for Spurs in this year’s Europa Cup competition. However he has often been left out of the squad for Premier League games with Andre Villas-Boas preferring Spanish striker Roberto Soldado.
Defoe has also been a fixture in Roy Hodgson’s English side, and with this move across the pond, his place for the Rio World Cup squad may be in question.
Still the money involved is far more than what was being reportedly offered by other English clubs like West Ham United and Queen’s Park Rangers, and so the move makes sens for Defoe and for Spurs. Defoe is making £67,000 per week at White Hart Lane.
Toronto FC is familiar with Defoe as they are managed by his former Spurs teammate Ryan Nelsen.
It is unclear when exactly Defoe will leave Spurs. The question now is if he will actually head to Toronto immediately after the transfer, or if he will be loaned back to Tottenham, allowing him to stay with the club until the MLS season begins in March. The ability of Spurs to buy another striker in the January window (and one who isn’t cup-tied in their European campaign) might be a factor in this decision.
Update: Toronto FC and Tottenham are both denying the report, with TFC calling it “inaccurate”. With the window still a good ways away, we will have to wait and see.
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