{"id":608139,"date":"2022-01-19T12:43:53","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T17:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=608139"},"modified":"2022-01-19T12:43:53","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T17:43:53","slug":"striker-jermain-defoe-sunderland-contact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/01\/19\/striker-jermain-defoe-sunderland-contact\/","title":{"rendered":"Striker Jermain Defoe Confirms Sunderland Have Made Contact"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In an interview with talkSPORT on Wednesday morning, former Rangers striker Jermain Defoe confirmed that contact had been made by <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/01\/18\/sunderland-sign-defender-danny-batth-from-stoke-city\/\" target=\"_self\">Sunderland<\/a> for him to return to the club. Defoe is a huge fan-favourite on Wearside both on and off the pitch and should he return it would delight both the fans and the club.<\/p>\n<h2>Sunderland Make Contact With Striker Jermain Defoe Over Return<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u260e\ufe0f \u201cMy phone\u2019s gone mad! If you\u2019re phone\u2019s ringing at 39 it\u2019s a good thing!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udd34 \u201cI\u2019ve got a few options! Obviously the Sunderland one\u2019s well documented.\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IAmJermainDefoe?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@IAmJermainDefoe<\/a> admits <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SAFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#SAFC<\/a> are one of the clubs interested in signing him! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/je7ikvJmVQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/je7ikvJmVQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/talkSPORT\/status\/1483746807477907456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 19, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>A Stunning Return to Sunderland Could Happen for Jermain Defoe<\/h3>\n<p>When it was announced that Jermain Defoe would continue to play following his exit from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/01\/04\/everton-confirm-nathan-patterson-transfer-from-rangers\/\" target=\"_self\">Rangers<\/a>, the rumour mill as to where he would go next began hotting up. One club he was instantly linked to was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/01\/17\/sunderland-weekly-round-up-black-cats-transfer-rumours-pick-up-pace\/\" target=\"_self\">Sunderland<\/a>. The former England striker enjoyed two-and-a-half seasons at the Stadium of Light from January 2015 to the summer of 2017. In this time, he built a rapport with not only the club and its fans but everyone in the area. Should he return, he would be welcomed back with open arms.<\/p>\n<h3>Defoe Still Has the Ability to Fire Sunderland to Promotion<\/h3>\n<p>Despite being 39-years-old, Jermain Defoe still possesses the ability to put the ball in the net on a regular basis. It is of little secret that the Black Cats are desperate for promotion from League One and signing a player of Defoe&#8217;s ability and status in the game would make a huge statement of intent by Sunderland that they mean business.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to talkSPORT on Wednesday morning, Defoe said he still felt fit and able to perform, something which would delight Sunderland or any other club chasing his signature. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballscotland.co.uk\/spfl\/scottish-premiership\/jermain-defoe-confirms-sunderland-transfer-22798111\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">He said<\/a>\u00a0&#8220;It&#8217;s just about being honest with yourself.\u00a0I did a full pre-season and I thought &#8216;I feel good&#8217;.\u00a0I didn&#8217;t pick up any niggles, I&#8217;ve been doing double sessions. So I&#8217;ve been doing the things I&#8217;ve always done.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;During the season, even when the new manager come in I remember training and thinking: &#8216;I feel really sharp, I&#8217;ve not really played to be honest&#8217;.\u00a0I know training&#8217;s different to a match, but at the same time I felt sharp.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Other League One Interest<\/h3>\n<p>Although a return to Sunderland would be a romantic way for Defoe to end his playing career, the news has sparked interest from several other League One clubs.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JBurtTelegraph\/status\/1483828500968747013?t=ssY3daO34IW3iiEwT2zyLA&amp;s=19\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Telegraph&#8217;s Jason Burt<\/a> tweeted that Ipswich Town and Charlton Athletic were also keen although the striker had already held talks with Oxford United.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"-G82aRdpQj9rTFbFiYMbHQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1234574467\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'-G82aRdpQj9rTFbFiYMbHQ',sig:'5cdDfnV0y50gX5HL-RyAkXxN18UiHPwwDP24EqdMCVU=',w:'594px',h:'371px',items:'1234574467',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Striker Jermain Defoe has confirmed that there has been contact from former club Sunderland over a stunning return to the Stadium of Light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":608161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,32,30,8430,7188,22,28],"tags":[467,1179,1180],"class_list":["post-608139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-league12","category-league-football","category-news","category-oxford-united","category-rumours","category-sunderland","category-transfers","tag-jermain-defoe","tag-transfer-news","tag-transfer-rumours"],"modified_by":"Dale Ventham, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}