When Harry Rednapp decided to do some last minute shopping and brought in Jermaine Defoe from Portsmouth critics were shocked. This coupled with the fact that Portsmouth decided to sell their leading goals scorer Benjani to Man City. The media was in an uproar...how can you sell a player that has scored two hat tricks in a season for a striker that can hardly find playing time on his team, despite their miscomings in that department.
Harry remained relaxed and explained it was good football business acumen. Jermaine Defoe is below the age of 26 and has yet to be in his prime while Benjani is 29 and is getting over the hill. If one was to think of the future the younger choice would be the better option. Harry already knew that Defoe had a knack for scoring goals. Despite meager playing time at Cottage Park, Defoe managed to score 8 goals before the January transfer window out of 31 appearances, 23 of these appearances were of the bench in dieing minutes. Benjani has scored 12 goals in 27 appearances, he has been a subsititute only twice. Benjani despite scoring many goals has a tendency to go quiet for long stretches and is not seen as dependant. Jermaine on the other hand is known to score almost a will. It seems odd that he has not made much appearances for the National Team due to this fact.
The result of bringing Defoe to Portsmouth has been a tremendous success. Portsmouth now has a lethal striker upfront that has done wonders to their upward climb to the top echelons of the premiereship. Jermaine has almost immediately created an impact on the team racking in 8 goals out a 9 starting appearances. That my friends is money well spent. The future for Portsmouth and Defoe now look brighter. Defoe is now at home in a team that gives him the playing time he greatly desired and he will be looking more attractive to Capello as selections for World Cup qualifiers arise.
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