Former England international striker Jermain Defoe joined Rangers from Bournemouth on an 18-month loan in January 2018, and he has since scored 25 goals in 52 appearances for the Light Blues.
The 37-year-old will join the Scottish Premiership club permanently on a one-year deal at the end of his loan deal in June having signed a pre-contract agreement with Rangers in January, and he has revealed that the club’s former boss Graeme Souness played a huge role in his decision to move to Ibrox.
“I had loads of options to be honest, like Sheffield United and Rangers. Then I spoke to my agent, me and Steve have got the same agent, so I spoke to him. When I got that call, I remember being at home and Rangers played, I remembered listening to the atmosphere and going like “wow, that’s special”, and my agent messaged me that “are you watching this game?”, I said yea, he said “what do you think?,” Defoe told Sky Sports.
“I told myself I need to experience this. Even before I knew about the Rangers things, I remember speaking to Graeme Souness – I did a game on Sky – about the Old Firm. He said to me, “it’s the best game in the world.” I said really, he said “trust me, it’s the best game in the world, that football club is unbelievable”. So all these things, and when I get the phone call, I said: “let’s make it happen”.
The former Sunderland striker has brought much-needed experience to the Rangers attack, with 13 league goals to his name this term.
Despite his age, Defoe hasn’t shown signs of slowing down and he will hope to land his first league title at Ibrox.
That might have to wait till next term, though, with Gerrard’s men currently 13 points behind bitter rivals Celtic with eight games left.
Defoe has won only one piece of silverware during his 20 years as a professional footballer – the League Cup with Tottenham Hotspur in 2008 – and he will look to bow out on a high with the Scottish Premiership title next term.
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
