Jermaine Defoe will not be joining Queens Park Rangers this summer.
As he looks to earn an instant return to the Premier League following relegation last season, Harry Redknapp is said to have made the England international a top target for his Hoops side. The Loftus Road boss has, of course, worked with the 29-year-old before, for Portsmouth which is sandwiched by two spells at Tottenham Hotspur.
Redknapp would love to take the player from White Hart Lane before the 2 September deadline, but Andre Villas-Boas has ruled out such a transfer. Whilst Roberto Soldado is expected to be the main man in attack for Spurs during the coming season, the Portuguese coach will still rely on the services of Defoe and also that of Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, who has been linked with West Bromwich Albion.
“They are players we count on 100 per cent,” Villas-Boas is quoted as saying in the Daily Express. “Sigurdsson is completely in our plans. Defoe is a hero for Tottenham and has been doing well. He faces competition which he has always faced during his career.”
Earlier this month, Redknapp told the Evening Standard that whilst he wanted to sign Defoe, he received little joy when approaching his former club about the possibility of a deal. Charlie Austin, 24, has arrived from Burnley, yet the departures of Loic Remy, Djibril Cisse, DJ Campbell, Jay Bothroyd and Rob Hulse means the Championship side remain short on attacking options, particularly as playmaker Adel Taarabt, who so impressed the last time they were in this division, has joined Fulham on loan.
