Wilson’s hunger games DEFOE: HE LOVES SCORING

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 Callum Wilson.

Bournemouth veteran Defoe has had to get to grips with life on the bench while the Cherries’ incredible season has unfolded.

But that hasn’t stopped him admiring the efforts of England new boy Wilson, who has emerged as one of the Premier League most clinical marksman in recent seasons.

Wilson’s goals have helped establish Bournemouth as a topflight force, under boss Eddie Howe (below), though the striker was injured for yesterday’s 4-0 defeat at home to Liverpool.

It’s a far cry from Defoe’s first spell at the club, when the shoestring Cherries relied on the players doing the laundry.

Defoe, 36, famously scored in 10 consecutive League One ma t c h e s for Bournemouth as an 18-yearold back in 2000/01.

He hasn’t stopped finding the back of the net since.

And he has seen something of that same desire for goals in Wilson.

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 he has that selfbelief 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 ot arrogance – and he works so hard as well.”

Home matches against the likes of yesterday’s opponents were the last thing on n Bournemouth minds when hen Defoe (above) arrived on loan from West Ham as a teenager in October 2000.

Back then, the Cherries were mostly concerned with basic financial survival.

Defoe recalled: “I was only meant to go on loan for a month, but I loved it there. I called Harry Redknapp [then West Ham boss] and told him I wanted to stay for the whole season.

“I could never have imagined what has happened for this club – we had to wash our own kit!

“Even the stories after I left, the club was on its knees. Players and fans were going around with buckets trying to raise money. “That’s why it ’ s i important the players appreciate the fans. And Jeff Mostyn, the chairman, is a special guy, a special person.

“Eddie Howe’s a top coa coach too, he’s Mr Bournemouth.

“He’s played there, and taken the club from League One to the Premier League. It’s an amazing story. Fantastic.

“If he stays there the rest of his career, I don’t think you’d say, ‘He should have gone on to somewhere else’.

“Why would he want to leave?”