Defoe’s set to defy his mum
EVERTON striker Romelu Lukaku is to visit a doctor in Belgium this week for treatment on a calf problem but he is expected to be fit for the club’s next Premier League match on February 25.
The Belgium forward, right, has not travelled with his team-mates to their training camp in Dubai but the club insisted that the issue was “not serious”. JERMAIN DEFOE is not ready to hang up his boots just yet, with even his mum in the dark over his future.
The 34-year-old striker, who has scored 14 of Sunderland’s 24 Premier League goals this season, put pen to paper on a three-and-ahalf-year deal when he arrived on Wearside in January 2015 and signed a 12-month extension last summer.
But Defoe, who was courted briefly by his former club West Ham last month, has yet to make any longer-term plans – much to his mum’s consternation. He said: “My mum keeps asking me, ‘How long are you going to play for? When are you going to do your coaching badges?’ I don’t know. I just take each day as it comes.
“Even with my friends in football, Les Ferdinand and Ian Wright, I always say to them, ‘Do you miss it?’ They miss not just the training and the games but just being around the lads in the changing room. It’s important to play as long as you can. That’s why I’ve always looked after myself, because I love it.” HULL have been charged with failing to control their players during last Saturday’s 2-0 Premier League defeat at Arsenal. Hull players surrounded referee Mark Clattenburg, left, after Arsenal full-back Kieran Gibbs was only booked for fouling Lazar Markovic when the Hull winger was clear on goal. The club have until 6pm on Friday to respond to the charge.