Former Tottenham Hotspur icon [Jermain Defoe](https://www.football.london/all-about/jermain-defoe) will be back on our screens this evening as part of Sky Sports Monday Night Football coverage of West Ham United against Wolves. The 42-year-old came through the Hammers before making the move to White Hart Lane in 2004.
He'd go on to make 176 appearances for Spurs, scoring 64 goals in that time, before joining Portsmouth. Defoe would spend just one year on the south coast before re-signing for Spurs, making a further 186 appearances for the club, adding another 79 goals to his already impressive tally.
Looking back on his career during a recent podcast appearance, Defoe claims his stint at Bournemouth - from 2017-2020 - was one of the hardest parts of his career after struggling for regular first-team football.
The now-retired England international joined the Cherries after another former club in Sunderland were relegated from the [Premier League](https://www.football.london/all-about/premier-league). Defoe had scored 37 goals in 93 appearances for the Black Cats across three seasons but his goals weren't enough to keep them in the top-flight.
Despite making 26 appearances in the 2017-2018 campaign, Defoe only managed four goals and he was limited to just eight appearances in all competitions the following season, before moving to Rangers.
"People are always going to doubt you. Even when I went back to Bournemouth I wasn't playing and when I think about it, that was one of the hardest times in my career," said Defoe on the Football Firsts podcast as he reflected back on that part of his career.
Defoe continued: "I remember sitting in my car after certain games when I hadn't even come on the pitch. I get goosebumps talking about this. I remember looking at my phone thinking; 'Who can I talk to?' I was just thinking about who I could speak to because I was feeling so hurt. I had never felt that before.
"I needed to think about how I was going to deal with the situation because the only thing that's ever given me that much joy is football, but now I could see the end. I was at a club where I wasn't even getting on the pitch. I was training, but there was nothing at the end of it. I was training hard and scoring goals, but I needed that buzz that I've always had since I was eight-years-old.
"I just remember sitting there and thinking I'm going to phone my Mum and say to her; 'That's me done, I'm not playing anymore, I can't deal with it'.
"Then I got a call to go to Rangers. As soon as I'd got to Rangers, I remember we played against Kilmarnock and I got that fire back. When I started scoring goals there, I thought; 'That's for all the people who were saying stuff'."
Now retired, Defoe is looking to make the next step in his coaching career and wants to become a manager. He was linked with the vacant managerial role at Sunderland last season, but the north East outfit opted against appointing him as their manager.
Defoe had a recent spell with Spurs in a coaching capacity, leaving in July 2024. He said on X: "It's been a pleasure to achieve so much at Spurs, including reaching Uefa A coaching status, which was always an ambition of mine following my playing career.
"Spurs will always hold a special place in my heart and the fans already know how much the club means to me. However, now is the right time for me to move on and shape the rest of my coaching and managerial career. Nevertheless, I will forever remember my time at Spurs fondly."