West Ham Fan View: Why the Hammers should re-sign Jermain Defoe

On Saturday, the day finally came. Following a 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth, Sunderland were relegated and Jermain Defoe may be on his way out of the club this summer. But should West Ham sign Defoe? Or should we attempt to sign a younger striker?

Defoe has had a great season in a team that has struggled to perform in games for the majority of the season. As it stands, Defoe has 14 goals and 2 assists which means that he has directly contributed to 61.5% of Sunderland’s goals in the Premier League this season. Let’s not forget that he is 34 years old and he has started all 34 games in the Premier League. He is still fit enough to play every week and there are no signs that he has lost his ability to be clinical and find space in the box this season.

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Should we sign Defoe?

Now, I think that signing Defoe is an opportunity that we have to take. West Ham did attempt to sign Defoe in January and I did criticise this given the timing. But this summer is our chance and there are reports that Defoe will be allowed to leave Sunderland for free given that they were relegated. This is the chance for us to overturn our striker misery in the transfer market.

Jonathan Calleri and Simone Zaza were brought in last summer and neither have made an impact, scoring only one goal between them in the Premier League. Zaza did not even make it to the end of the season with us! We have scored 44 goals this season and we would be signing a player that has scored 14 goals in a team that has been relegated.

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Now Defoe may not give us many years of service due to his age but we need a striker that can come in and have an impact immediately. Defoe has played for West Ham before and is one of the greatest finishers that the Premier League has seen. With the World Cup in 2018, Defoe will be determined to secure a place in England’s squad and carry on his form from this season, next season.

I am not saying that he should be the only striker that we sign this summer. We should also go for a younger striker but having Defoe means that we can switch our style of play whilst having a true goalscorer in the team.

Given our record in recent years when it comes to signing strikers, signing Defoe would be one of our smartest moves this summer.