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Jermain Defoe is arguably one of the best natural finishers to have graced the English Premiership. At the age of 26 years old, Defoe has over 30 caps for England, scoring six goals in the process despite not being a regular in the squad at any stage of his career. Leading quite an open lifestyle, in recent years Defoe has become better known as a public figure by dating models and pop stars such as Charlotte Mears, Danielle Lloyd and Lauren Pope.

Defoe started his career at the Sunday League team Senrab, well known in London for producing players like John Terry, Ledley King, Lee Bowyer and Ashley Cole, all of whom have gone on to represent their country. At the age of fourteen, Defoe went to the FA school of excellence at Lilleshall. With a start like this, Defoe was always destined to have a great career and although he has done well, is perhaps yet to reach his full potential.

When Defoe signed professional terms with West Ham United at the age of 16, it was a contract fuelled with controversy. It was Charlton Athletic who had spotted Defoe playing for Senrab and enrolled him into the School of Excellence and unsurprisingly they were quite put out when Defoe chose to join one of their rival London clubs. Although they were awarded a hefty compensation package for losing the player, in retrospect, Charlton would probably have liked to get Defoe tied down.

It was in the 2000/2001 season that we were first introduced to Jermain Defoe whilst on loan at Bounemouth in the Second Division of English football. He scored 19 goals in just 31 games including a club record 10 in 10 consecutive games. This is also when we first heard Harry Redknapp tip Defoe for stardom and since then he has also played for Redknapp at Portsmouth and most recently at Tottenham Hotspur. Upon returning to West Ham in the 2001/2002 season, Defoe finished as their top goalscorer despite being used mainly as a substitute. Regardless of his form, West Ham were relegated from the Premiership that season and soon after, Defoe made a move across London to Tottenham Hotspur.

Defoe joined Tottenham in January 2004 for 6 million and marked his debut with a goal against Portsmouth in a 4-3 victory. Despite a mass of media speculation linking him to other clubs after some superb goalscoring form, Defoe signed a new four year contract with Spurs in April 2005. However, it turned a bit sour for Defoe the following season when Martin Jol took over the helm at Tottenham. He played third fiddle to Robbie

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