Brilliant Cal has Defo got what it takes
FEW strikers have scored as regularly as Jermain Defoe during his long career.
And now the former England star believes he recognises that same hunger for goals driving team-mate Callum Wilson, whose strikes kes have helped establish
Bournemouth as a top-flight force.
It’s a far cry from Defoe’s first spell at the club, when h the shoestring Cherries relied on players doing the laundry.
Defoe, 36, scored in 10 consecutive League One matches for them as an 18-year-old back in 2000-01.
Defoe said: “I face-timed Callum after he scored for England against the USA and then thought, ‘he’s probably still on the pitch!’.
“I was so happy for him. He had two bad injuries, out for nine months both times, and I’ve said to him before, ‘did you ever think that was it?’.
“But he never had any doubts that he would get back – and that just sums him up. He definitely has the hunger for goals, and the self-belief as well.
“That’s so important, and it’s something I had myself from day one.
“Once you’ve got that as a forward it’s a massive help. Even if you go through a bad time it doesn’t affect you.
“I always believed that no matter what level I played at I would score goals.
“When I was 17, I was thinking I’d score if I played in the Premier League. It was the same with playing for England.
“I always felt I could score at any level, and Callum is exactly the same. He has that confidence – it’s not arrogance – and he works so hard as well.”
Home matches against the likes of yesterday’s opp opponents Liverpool w were the last thing on Bournemouth minds when Defoe (left) a arrived on loan fro from West Ham as a teenager in October 2000.
Defoe recalled: “I was only meant to go on loan for a month but I loved it there.
“I called Harry Redknapp, who was the West Ham boss then, and told him I wanted to stay for the whole season.
“I could never have imagined what’s happened for this club – back then we had to wash our own kit! Players and fans were going around with buckets to raise money.
“Eddie Howe’s taken them on to the Premier League... it’s amazing.”