Jermain’s a goalscoring great ... just like Greaves and Gilzean
SAYS JOE JORDAN
JERMAIN DEFOE’S goalscoring record stands alongside Spurs striking greats such as Jimmy Greaves and Alan Gilzean.
And legendary former Scotland frontman Joe Jordan insists that says everything about the quality of the new Rangers loan signing.
Jordan, 67, worked with veteran England striker Defoe at Portsmouth and Tottenham when he was assistant to Harry Redknapp.
And he believes Steven Gerrard has pulled off a major coup in landing the player on an 18-month deal from Bournemouth.
Jordan insists the arrival of Defoe is a huge early boost to the Light Blues title bid and reckons it throws down the gauntlet for Celtic to respond in the January transfer window.
The former Leeds, Manchester United and Milan striker, who won 52 caps, is convinced Defoe will continue to score goals north of the border in the same way he has for the last two decades in the Premier League.
Jordan watched him score the second fastest hat-trick in that league’s history as he hit five goals in a 9-1 win over Wigan – and Defoe is the competition’s seventh-highest scorer.
His 143 goals in 363 games for Spurs also make him fifth top scorer for the Londoners – with more than Gilzean, Teddy Sheringham and current hero Harry Kane.
Defoe has netted 20 goals in 57 England appearances as well and Jordan said: “He is a goal scorer – that is what he goes on the field to do. You only have to look at his record at Spurs where he had a major part of his career. If you go back to Greaves and Gilzean then Defoe isn’t far behind them. “Greaves was an exception but there are others like Stevie Archibald and Jermain’s record stands up against the majority of them – that tells you all you need to know about the player he is. “I don’t think he has lost any of his desire to score goals – that’s what he wants to do. When you give him chances he’ll put them away. “He’s a good finisher and knows what is needed in the box whether it’s a tap-in, sidefoot or to follow up the chances that maybe come off the goalkeeper. “He’s alert, he’s alive in the box and off the park he’s a good lad, a bubbly guy. He’s a good type and plays to score goals. Defoe knows what his job is and that’s what he wants to concentrate on.
“I’m not surprised he’s going to Rangers. He’s playing at Bournemouth and going to a club where he’ll be playing in front of 50,000 every other week so that will satisfy his demand for atmosphere. He’ll enjoy that and can handle the big games.
“He’s going to Ibrox for a purpose and that’s to compete for a championship medal and he’ll be delighted in that challenge.
“Gerrard will have picked someone like Defoe because he thinks he can do the job he’d require him to do and not an old pals’ act. Gerrard has something to complete at Rangers and sees Defoe as part of the jigsaw. “I don’t know if Defoe had other offers but he’s going to a manager who has gone to Scotland to achieve something. “The chance to play for Rangers would be enough of an incentive plus he’ll be getting well paid as he should if you’re a top player going to Ibrox. “Defoe scores goals and always has done. From the moment he went on loan from West Ham to Bournemouth he went on to equal a post-war record when he scored in 10 consecutive games. “I remember Harry Redknapp signing him for Portsmouth because we had a good team and Defoe came but was unfortunate because we were in the FA Cup and he was cup-tied as he’d played for Spurs in the competition and didn’t play in the final.
“But he played in numerous games for Portsmouth and we worked together again at Spurs where he scored five goals in a 9-1 win over Wigan. That doesn’t happen often.
“We had some good strikers at Spurs at that time – Robbie Keane and Roman Pavlyuchenko – and that applied at Portsmouth as well where we had people like Nwankwo Kanu and he could compete with that company.”
Rangers drew level on points with champions Celtic with a 1-0 Old Firm win at Ibrox and have now sent out a statement in the transfer market.
Jordan – assistant to Liam Brady at Parkhead in the early 1990s – added: “This signing is a huge boost for the whole Ibrox camp from the dressing room to the supporters so it will be interesting to see what Celtic do.”