Spotted: Jermain Defoe to return to Glasgow amid speculation about Rangers future
Jermain Defoe has suggested he’s staying at Rangers after showing on Instagram that he’s jetting back to Glasgow on Sunday.
Defoe was in London to work as a pundit for the England versus Albania clash in World Cup qualifying and with Steven Gerrard quitting Ibrox and taking his coaching team with him to Aston Villa, it’s left speculation surrounding Defoe too.
Michael Beale and Gary McAllister are among those who’ve left for Villa with Gerrard but The Athletic has reported that Defoe is staying.
And based on the player-coach’s latest Instagram story, that is the case with him saying he’s “Glasgow-bound” plus red, white and blue emojis.
Defoe’s staying
It’s a massive blow for Rangers to lose Gerrard – it’s an unthinkable blow to lose Gerrard and almost the entirety of his coaching team.
Beale and McAllister did superb jobs alongside Stevie G in Glasgow so losing them is as much a blow as it is the manager going.
Thankfully, not everyone has left though and Defoe sure looks as though he’s not going anywhere soon – yet.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst is widely reported to be the front-runner to replace Gerrard at Ibrox and it remains to be seen what kind of coaching team he’ll assemble and whether he’ll get rid of anyone who’s already there.
However, Defoe is also on the playing squad so it might not be as simple to get rid of him and who knows? Gio may want to play him way more than Gerrard did.
Defoe’s a new coach so we’re yet to know how he works but you’d imagine that someone of his experience would have a superb impact on the strikers at Ibrox and also the youngsters coming through at Auchenhowie.
In other Rangers news, this £2million-rated player could leave for Aston Villa in January.