League One side Sunderland officially announced the signing of 39-year-old veteran Defoe, the former England international returned to the black cats after five years, although he scored 300 goals in his club career, but Defoe only played 8 minutes off the bench at Glasgow Rovers this season. Can his return be the key to Sunderland's smooth upgrade?
Sunderland has officially announced that he has signed England striker Defoe on a free transfer, signing a contract until the end of the season. Defoe played for Sunderland for two and a half seasons, contributing 34 goals in 87 Premier League games and 37 goals in 93 games on all fronts, and after five years, he returned to his old club again.
Defoe, who will turn 40 in October, made his career debut for West Ham before he turned 18 and has since travelled to Bournemouth, Tottenham Hotspur, Portsmouth, Toronto, Sunderland and Glasgow Rangers.
Last season, Defoe scored 7 goals at Glasgow Rangers, completing 300 career goals, the club's career statistics were 756 games and 305 goals, and also scored 7 goals for England U21 and 20 goals for England.
Sunderland was relegated from the Premier League in 2016-17 to League One the following year, and after four seasons in League One, he never returned to the Championship. This season, Sunderland was once at the top of the League One table, but his recent status has declined, especially last weekend when he was swept 6-0 by Bolton, who was downstream of the table, and young coach Lee Johnson was also dismissed. Currently, Sunderland has two games to finish third in the table, two points behind leading Rotherham.