Tottenham's Jermain Defoe offered transfer to Canada on £90,000 a week
Tottenham's Jermain Defoe offered transfer to Canada on £90,000 a week
Striker's ex-Spurs team-mate Nelsen wants him at MLS's Toronto FC as the Londoners ponder a move for Brazil forward Pato
Will they get their man? Defoe's wanted in the land of the Mounties
PA
Jermain Defoe has received a whopping £5million-a-year offer to quit Spurs for Major League Soccer in January.
Toronto
FC have put a stunning package - including £90,000-a-week in salary -
on the table to try to tempt the “incredible” England striker away from the White Hart Lane club.
They face competition from Queens Park Rangers, however, with Harry Redknapp set make a renewed bid to persuade the 31-year-old to join their Championship promotion push.
Meanwhile, Tottenham are monitoring £15million-rated Corinthians striker Pato with a view to increasing their competition for places up front.
Defoe
has scored eight goals from his 13 appearances so far this season, but
remains behind £26m Roberto Soldado in Andre Villas-Boas’ first-team
plans.
Emmanuel Adebayor, who was frozen out after a bust-up
during pre-season with Spurs boss AVB, is set to be reintegrated into
the first-team picture.
Reintroducing 6ft 3in Adebayor would be
likely to push Defoe - who stands 5ft 7in - even further down the
pecking order as AVB’s preference is for a big frontman to link play. Tall order: Adebayor's return to the squad would be bad for Defoe
Victor Fraile
Defoe will now have to weigh up the mouthwatering offer to
move to Canada against his situation at Spurs and his hopes of making
Roy Hodgson’s squad for the World Cup in Brazil next summer.
Toronto
coach Ryan Nelsen - a former Tottenham team-mate of Defoe's - is
understood to have made a tentative proposal to take the striker in the
summer, but he was rebuffed as the player wanted to remain committed to
the club.
Nelsen has returned, however, with an even more lucrative deal and has confirmed he is desperate to prise the frontman away.
“He
is one of the most natural goal-scorers I have ever come across,” said
Nelsen. “Always out training, always trying to score. To get a guy like
Defoe for MLS, I cannot think of many that are more suited - I think if
you ask most Premier League teams, they would take Defoe.
“It
would be incredible. I call him and text him all the time. Him playing
in Toronto would be phenomenal. If you look around the world and try
and think of a realistic player - and I am not sure how realistic he is -
that complements a league like ours, never gets injured, doesn’t drink,
can play high, low, scores all sorts of goals.’” Euro star: Pato's return to Brazil from AC Milan has not been a success
LatinContent/Getty Images
Defoe has had two spells at Tottenham.
He was first signed from West Ham for £7m in 2004.
After being sold to Portmouth, Spurs bought him back in January 2009 for £15m.
Pato, meanwhile, has had an unhappy time at Corinthians since moving there in January after a six-year spell at AC Milan.
Still only 24, he has hit eight goals in 23 matches and has fallen out with fans and his team-mates.
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