Tottenham legend Gary Mabbutt has urged Spurs to bring Jermain Defoe back to the club on a loan deal to cover for the loss of Harry Kane.
Kane has been ruled out of action until April after picking up a hamstring injury against Southampton two weeks ago.
Spurs are reportedly looking to bring in a striker to cope with his absence and AC Milan striker Krzysztof Piatek has been linked heavily with a move to the club (Football.London).
Mabbutt claimed that the Polish international would be a good fit for the Lilywhites. However, the former Spurs skipper believes that bringing Defoe back to the club would be the ideal solution for Tottenham during the current window.
Defoe, who made over 350 appearances for Spurs across two spells, has been in terrific form for Rangers this campaign having notched up 14 goals in all competitions so far (transfermarkt).
Speaking about Spurs’ dilemma, Mabbutt told Love Sport Radio: “I’ve seen Piatek a number of times, he’s a classic number nine. He’s brave, he’s good in the air, scores with both feet. His control and first touch are good, he’s strong and he scores goals.”
“You can’t just go into a panic buy just because your star player is going to be out for two or three months, because when that player comes back the competition is going to be even greater.
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“The player coming in may not want that. Ideally, you’d bring back in Jermaine Defoe on loan just to cover that area.”
Mabbutt back also insisted that there are several players in the Spurs squad capable of stepping up in Kane’s absence.
The former England defender said: “I think we’ve got a very good squad – last year in the Champions League in the game against Ajax Moura stepped up and got a hat-trick which saw us get through to the final so we’ve got players there that can step up to the mark and now the opportunity is there for them again.”
Spurs Web Opinion
As much as I love Jermain Defoe, this won’t be a particularly wise deal for the club. Defoe was pretty ineffective in his last spell in the Premier League with Bournemouth and at 37 years of age, there is no reason to think he is ready to cut it at the top level. Besides, Mourinho isn’t exactly the biggest fans of goal poachers like Defoe and prefers his strikers to hold the ball up and play with their back to goal.
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