A transfer move that has all the trappings of a real move (down to the ‘inside news’ that both players have agreed to the swap) but the ridiculousness of randomly generated nonsense.
If the Sun are to be believed, Tottenham and Chelsea are discussing a swap deal involving Jermain Defoe and Shaun Wright-Phillips. It’s quite ironic, because just a few days ago I compared the two players and the opposite paths their careers had taken. SWP was the promising young player who had seemingly thrown his career away to move to Chelsea’s reserves, while Defoe was the promising young striker with a great England future ahead of him.
And now while Defoe is stagnating at Tottenham and is firmly 4th choice, Wright-Phillips has fought his way into contention and is now regaining his place in the Chelsea and England lineups. On the surface, it sounds like a ridiculous move for Chelsea, so unless SWP is insisting on this, I doubt this is true.
So that raises two questions – Why would Shaun Wright-Phillips go to Tottenham, and why the hell would Chelsea want Jermain Defoe?
Tottenham may, in some people’s minds, reach the Champions League soon but they aren’t going to overtake Chelsea anytime soon and for SWP to swap a promising point of his career with Chelsea for the trials of Tottenham (where he could be a regular starter on the left but that would be a ridiculous waste of his talents) would be suicidal. At least when he moved from City to Chelsea, he was going to a ‘bigger’ club. It’s not as if SWP is frozen on the Chelsea sidelines, is it?
Coming to Defoe – I’d agree that Chelsea could possibly use another striker, especially if there’s a chance that Shevchenko could bounce, but surely that’s not going to happen? And if Chelsea really want to go after a striker to sit on the bench as they play Drogba, Kalou and Pizzaro ahead of him, why Defoe and why not someone similar to Pizzaro or a very young striker like Real Madrid’s Soldado?
Defoe is definitely talented, but he’s not worth losing SWP at the moment.
Comments are welcome.
Also Read: The Premier League 2007 Summer Transfers Page and our transfer news section.
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