Retired Tottenham Hotspur ace Jermain Defoe reveals failed Manchester United move that he ‘tries not to regret’
Speaking to talkSPORT (h/t Manchester Evening News), former Tottenham Hotspur ace Jermain Defoe reflected on his past after calling time on his playing career, as he recalled a time when he nearly moved to Manchester United.
Defoe was one of the best forwards to grace the English top-flight, turning out for West Ham United, Spurs, Sunderland, Portsmouth, and Bournemouth. He finished his career by making it to the top 10 all-time Premier League goalscorers, a massive achievement.
The 39-year-old looked back on his career and spoke about an incident where he spoke to United about a potential move, which ultimately did not bear fruit.
“I remember speaking to Man Utd. I spoke to the Man Utd boys years later, they said they thought I was coming which would’ve been amazing given the trophies that were won with Sir Alex Ferguson.”
Having also been an established England international, his links to the Red Devils cannot be questioned as he was one of the top strikers in the country, but Tottenham had the opportunity to make use of it. He turned out for the Lilywhites in two separate spells, where he arguably had his best time as a player.
“I try not to regret it”
Having now retired from the game, the ex-West Ham star can look back on his career and be proud of his achievements, topping the goalscoring charts as well as winning a few trophies with Spurs and Rangers – the latter of which he won alongside former England teammate Steven Gerrard, who was manager of the Scottish side.
Defoe said he tries not to regret his near-move to United, as everything happens for a reason and that he eventually ended up heading back to Tottenham despite interest from Italy. But deep down, he must still wonder what could have been had he joined Ferguson’s trophy-laden side.
“But I try not to regret it as everything happens for a reason. I remember my agent saying there was interest from Italy which would have been a great experience but I ended up going back to Tottenham.”
In the past, United have boasted of some of the best names in English football to lead the line for them – Wayne Rooney, Andy Cole, Michael Owen to name a few. To think that there was a possibility that Defoe could also have been added to the list speaks volumes about the club’s ability to attract star players.
Defoe was one of the most hard-working strikers to have graced the English top-flight, with his willingness to run around and press one of his best traits that Tottenham, among other clubs, were able to utilise fully.
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That being said, one cannot say that the Red Devils missed a player of Defoe’s calibre. We have always been able to land top strikers in transfer windows, and during the striker’s peak, we were still comfortably winning trophies.
This is not meant to sound disrespectful to Defoe, as his scoring record speaks for itself. There is also no doubt to think that we would have been a better side with the Englishman within our ranks. However, we had been successful without his goals in our books, and not a lot of United fans would be keen to change that fact.