Defoe will move on if Cats crash
JERMAIN DEFOE has said he will quit Sunderland if they are relegated from the Premier League this season.
The 34-year-old has been recalled to the England squad after a gap of more than three years for this week’s games against Germany and Lithuania.
The Black Cats are seven points from safety with 10 games left, and Defoe admitted he will have to leave if the club goes down to keep alive his dream of going to the 2018 World Cup.
Defoe recalled a painful conversation with former England boss Roy Hodgson telling him that he was not going to the 2014 World Cup after he had decided to play in the MLS with Toronto.
“To get into any international squad is based on merit,” said Defoe. “You have got to be playing at the top level.
“When I missed out on the last World Cup squad it was hard to accept but, at the same time, you have to be realistic. The boys I was competing against were playing in the Premier League and Europe and that was probably why I missed out. So I would say yes, I would probably need to be playing in the Premier League.”
Defoe, whose last appearance for England was as a substitute against Chile in a 2-0 defeat at Wembley in November 2013, was a surprise call-up by Gareth Southgate last week.
But he has scored 19 goals in his 55 appearances for England and said he had never given up hope of a recall.
“I only had the one conversation with Roy on the phone. It was a quick conversation, ‘You are not included’. That was it. You have to accept it and move on.
“I went to Toronto in the March, but up until then I had played a full season with Spurs and I was scoring goals. I felt in my heart I had done enough to get on the plane but obviously it was not meant to be. It was a hard phone call to accept.
“After that, I thought if I have still got that ambition to play for England I need to be in the Premier League. That was behind my decision to come back.” WAYNE ROONEY’s absence from the meeting at which Gareth Southgate outlined how England could become “the best in the world” over the coming years clearly suggests they are going to have to do it without him.
The deposed captain, dropped from the squad before it was confirmed he would not be fit to play following a collision with Phil Jones in training, was invited to Burton-on-Trent.
But Manchester United insisted he needed treatment and his failure to make the 48-mile trip to St George’s Park from his Cheshire home fuels speculation this could be the end of the international road for the 31-year-old.
The journey ahead for the rest of the squad is an interesting one, if they buy into Southgate’s rhetoric. New arrival James WardProwse did – although he also admitted he had heard it before.
“It was very powerful message,” he said. “We want to be the best in the world. If you want to win major tournaments, then you’ve got to become that sort of team.”
The Southampton midfielder added: “We want to establish ourselves as a top team in the world so it is all about plugging away a
You have to be playing at top level