Rangers have made a big statement this month by bringing in England international striker Jermain Defoe on an 18 month loan deal.

Many felt The Gers didn’t have enough fire power or strength in depth in attack to seriously mount a title challenge. They’ve got a great finisher in Colombian hitman Alfredo Morelos but when he wasn’t available things seemed to dry up.

Kyle Lafferty does offer a different option up top but he’s more a foil for a goalscorer rather than be that free-scoring forward.

Gers boss Steven Gerrard clearly felt that he needed to bring in another prolific hitman and he’s brought in an attacker with plenty of pedigree in Defoe.

Jermain is the seventh all-time leading goalscorer in the English Premier League. He’s banged in 202 league goals in 563 appearances and he has also struck 20 times in 57 caps for England.

Defoe is a natural finisher, who just needs a tiny bit of space and a second to score a goal. He might be thirty-six years of age but he has never lost that goalscoring instinct, just two seasons ago he was getting fifteen goals for Sunderland when they suffered from relegation.

The striker has already shown us on Twitter that he’s coming to Scotland to be a success and to win trophies. He’s not coming to the Scottish Premiership to have a holiday:

Let’s bring that trophy home, boss… ??? pic.twitter.com/QJ59ayIDlm

— Jermain Defoe OBE (@IAmJermainDefoe) January 6, 2019

As well as his on-field contributions, Jermain Defoe could be vital in getting more from the young forwards at Ibrox.

Morelos has been linked with a move away from Govan this month, as he does during every transfer window, but both Gerrard and Rangers Director of Football Mark Allen have stated the Colombian international won’t be sold this month.

Talking to Jim Whyte on Talksport, Allen would state that Morelos will probably end up leaving at some point just not yet:

“Ultimately Alfredo will want to play at a different level, our job is to hold onto him for as long as we can,”

“There’s no intention of letting him go right now and we’ll see where the future takes him.”

Staying at Rangers, even if it’s just for another six months, could be extremely beneficial for Alfredo.

Back in the day when Jermain was starting out as a professional he had a mentor in legendary striker Ian Wright.

Wright would take time out as a veteran at West Ham United to give a young Defoe advice.

In an interview with The Guardian, Jermain would state that his talks with Wright never left him and he was keen to pass on his knowledge to younger forwards now that he’s the experience hitman:

“I still love football, even when I’m at home I watch every game, and these days I take an extra interest in the younger lads around the club because that’s what Wrighty did with me,”

I’d urge Morelos and the recently recalled Ryan Hardie to watch on, study Defoe in training and seek his advice with any attacking issues that come up.

Defoe makes excellent runs, he remains calm under pressure and he knows how to take a chance early. Morelos and Hardie can learn a lot from him and if they do, they’ll become better strikers.

If Jermain Defoe can score goals for Rangers, then that’s great. If he can come up here and make Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Hardie better players then that could be invaluable!

 

Posted on January 7th, 2019 by scott
Filed under: Article