Scottish Premiership fans are used to players wanting to make the move to England as soon as possible, so it’s surprising to hear of someone wishing they made the opposite move quicker.
Speaking to The Daily Record Jermaine Defoe has explained he is enjoying his time in Glasgow so much that he wishes he made the move years ago. He said: “I wish I had come here three years ago because it’s a special place, to be honest – and I’m not saying that because I have to say it.”
He also explained that he received calls from ex team mates who also wanted to make the move. Defoe went on to say: “A lot of my ex team-mates, guys I’ve played with, have messaged me and want to come here too. Seriously. I’m not mentioning any names, but I’ve had a lot of messages from people asking me to speak to the manager because they can see I’ve really enjoyed it.”
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It’s a surprising but brilliant thing to hear as a fan of Scottish football. We are used to seeing players make moves to England as quickly as possible because of the money on offer. This often comes at the expense of their career prospects as they take the first chance to move.
It worked out for Ryan Fraser but players like Garry Kenneth, Zander Diamond, Fraser Fyvie, Jamie Ness and Rhys McCabe all made poor moves and faded into obscurity.
Defoe’s words go to show the Scottish Premiership is an attraction to players south of the border, but perhaps current players should take notice of that too.
Over the past few years Defoe has made more money playing for Sunderland and Bournemouth, however he hasn’t been challenging for trophies and realistically the only target of those teams was to stay in the league.
He looks to have a new lease of life playing for an ambitious team who want to win every game. He went on to say: “I wanted to come and experience all this, playing with the added pressure of knowing you’re at such a big club and have to win every game – home, away or in Europe.”
He scored eight goals in 17 league games for Rangers last year and will battle Alfredo Morelos for the centre-forward spot this season.
Rangers’ season continues tonight as they revisit one of their darkest hours as they take on Progres Niederorn in the Europa League. The side from Luxembourg embarrassingly knocked the Ibrox side out of the competition in 2017.
