Jermain Defoe has explained what made him realise that he needed to leave Sunderland prematurely.
Jermain Defoe first spent two and a half years on Wearside after joining the club in a swap deal that saw Jozy Altidore move to Toronto.
It proved to be one of the best swap deals you will ever see, with the striker netting 34 goals in the Premier League.
During his time with the Black Cats, Defoe scored vital goals against the likes of Newcastle United, Crystal Palace and Chelsea to help the club stay in the top flight, before exiting following their relegation in 2017.
Defoe left the Stadium of Light as a fan favourite, so when the possibility of a dramatic return in 2022 came about, the fans were delighted.
The forward had just left Rangers where he had scored 32 goals in 74 games, before deciding to put pen to paper on a deal in League One in January 2022.
There was so much excitement around his return to the club, but things didn’t go quite as anyone had planned when he made only two starts in his ten appearances, while he was an unused substitute twice.
The 41-year-old – 39 at the time – hadn’t scored a goal for Sunderland when he unexpectedly announced that he was retiring from football, only two months after joining.
Fans were left incredibly frustrated by his unexpected departure, while Defoe has continuously defended his decision ever since.
The former England attacker has now explained himself once again on BBC Sport’s The Players Channel podcast.
“”There were a few other young forwards in the building and I thought, if I’m feeling like this – I’ve never felt like this before – I just felt just because of my name I was blocking the path for someone else to come through.
“I thought this isn’t right and if I’m not being in it fully then there’s no point in me being here so I just phoned by mum and I said ‘that’s me done’.”
Was Jermain Defoe in the right when he left Sunderland?
The season that Jermain Defoe left, we had huge success with our forwards, with Ross Stewart and Nathan Broadhead scoring a combined total of 34 goals in League One.
These young forwards that he refers to may be the likes of Will Harris, Stephen Wearne and Benjamin Kimpioka, who were far from making an impact on the senior team and went onto only manage five cameo appearances between them all season.
Defoe’s departure made no difference to our younger players and it made no difference to the first team either, so perhaps he didn’t like the fact that he was no longer the main man or of much importance at all as an understudy to Stewart.
I will always love Defoe for what he did in his first spell, but the way he handled his second remains questionable. When are you ever allowed to just walk out of a contract because you can’t be bothered anymore?