Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp will take a huge gamble on injured Jermain Defoe
Defoe has a groin problem and will have an operation next week that will rule him out for England’s opening Euro 2012 qualifying games.
But Spurs boss Redknapp is praying Defoe can stay on the pitch long enough at White Hart Lane tonight for his team to overturn their 3-2 first-leg deficit against Young Boys and make it through to the lucrative Champions League group stages.
Redknapp said: “Jermain will have his operation and he will be out for a couple of weeks, so it means he won’t be fit for England’s games, no chance. He was supposed to have it on Thursday but the specialist cannot do it until after the weekend, which is a blow for us.”
Defoe
will go under the knife on Tuesday and it means England coach Fabio
Capello will definitely be without his services for the games against
Bulgaria, on September 3, and Switzerland four days later. “Jermain has
hardly been training. When he has, he has been sticking goals in. But
then he has had days when he couldn’t train, and it is getting worse
all the time,” added Redknapp.
“An hour is
about as long as he can last. He wants to play but he has got to have
it done after this. The pain is getting worse – he might only be able
to manage half a game.”
Defoe, who has had the
problem for some months now, has not played a full 90 minutes for
Tottenham since February 10 – and has in fact been either a substitute
or taken off in 16 of his last 19 matches – a run which partly explains
his return of only three goals in his last 16 games.
Meanwhile,
Redknapp last night firmly shut the door on any chance Everton have of
taking Spurs striker Peter Crouch in exchange for midfielder Steven
Pienaar. “Peter Crouch is not for sale,” he said. “ It is pure speculation.”
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