Spurs legend, Jermain Defoe revealed while on the N17 Live show that he would love to play at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium one day in the future.
Defoe was a guest in the studio for the show when Spurs took on Aston Villa in the club’s final home game of the season, with 10,000 fans in the stands to watch the dismal defeat.
The former England striker recently signed a one-year contract extension with Rangers to become a player-coach for the 2021/22 season.
During his two stints in a Spurs shirt, Defoe managed to rack up an impressive 143 goals in 362 games, as well as another 31 assists.
Some Spurs fans will be looking back on the days of Defoe, Robbie Keane, Dimitar Berbatov and Darren Bent with envy as the club had so much squad depth up front. These days, Harry Kane is the only senior striker at the club.
While on the N17 Live show, Defoe talked about his first day at Spurs Lodge, advice he would give to the next batch of youngsters and coming back to play in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium one day.
He said: “17 years? That’s mad. Where’s that time gone?
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“I remember my first day at Spurs Lodge. Gus Poyet, Jamie Redknapp, Ledley King, all those boys, I was so excited to sign, and when I scored in my first game, that was it. Portsmouth at White Hart Lane. I scored past Shaka Hislop. It just took off from there.”
On advice to youngsters, he said: “You know when you are at that age when someone says to you, ‘you’ve another 15 years in the game’ and I just thought, ‘nah, I’ve got forever’…and here we are.
“That’s why I say to young players now, ‘you cannot waste one training session’, and tell them to enjoy it. They don’t know how lucky they are. Imagine playing in a stadium like this, in front of 60,000 fans!
“From day one I’ve always looked after myself, concentrated on my craft. That’s the bread and butter, every day, and I’ve put everything into it. I’m always in the gym and away from training, looking after what I eat, stuff like that.
“The natural ability, scoring goals, that will take care of itself, but you have to push yourself every day. That’s the difference, really. You don’t want to look back thinking, ‘I wish I did this, I wish I did that’.”
On the stadium and playing in it, he added: “I’m blown away. It’s my first time here. I’ve driven past a few times and there was the Legends game but I couldn’t make it.
“It’s unbelievable. I can just imagine when it’s full, the atmosphere must be incredible. I look forward to that.
“I’d love to play here one day, just to walk out there would be amazing. What a job the Club has done here.”
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