According to reports, Jermain Defoe will be reunited with Harry Redknapp once more when Queens Park Rangers move for his signature in the New Year.
Redknapp gave the England international his West Ham United debut in 1999, and has also signed him for Portsmouth in January 2008 for a fee of £6million, and again 12 months later when he lured him to Tottenham Hotspur for around £11million. Since February 2014 the striker has been plying his trade in the Major League Soccer, after agreeing to join Toronto FC on a four-year contract.
It was Ryan Nelsen, a former team-mate at Spurs, who persuaded Defoe to make the transfer earlier this year, a switch which many believe cost him any chance of making the England squad for the World Cup Finals. But since the former New Zealand international was sacked by the Canadian club in August, the 32-year-old is thought to have become unsettled and is keen on a return home.
According to the London Evening Standard, Redknapp is determined to bring him back to the capital on a permanent deal, as he looks to avoid an instant return to the Championship. QPR have endured a difficult start to life in the Premier League this term, winning just two of their first 10 fixtures, and they are currently second-bottom of the table although just two point from safety.
It is being suggested that the Loftus Road club will pay Defoe a salary of £90,000-per-week which, over three-years, will earn him a staggering £14million. Whilst it will be the third time Redknapp has signed the striker, it will be a case of second-time lucky in recent times, having agreed an £8million deal for his signature in the summer only for Toronto to pull the plug at the last minute.
“We tried all day with Jermain Defoe,” Redknapp admitted when the summer transfer window closed on 1 September. “He was keen to come. We agreed a deal with Toronto but they wouldn’t release him. There is every chance he will come in January. Almost certainly, I think we will go back in for him. I’ve signed him so many times. I’ve taken him everywhere I’ve been.”
