Harry - Defoe deal good for all

Tottenham boss defends conduct in pursuit of Pompey striker

Last updated: 7th January 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Harry - Defoe deal good for all

Defoe: Back at White Hart Lane

Related links

Teams

Players

Also see

Harry Redknapp is confident all parties are 'happy' with the deal which has seen Jermain Defoe leave Portsmouth to return to Tottenham Hotspur.

Defoe is finalising a move back to White Hart Lane for a fee in the region of £15million, less than 12 months after he left the club to join Portsmouth.

The striker was paraded to fans before the Carling Cup win over Burnley, but there have been suggestions that Spurs boss Redknapp unsettled the England international.

However, the former Pompey manager believes his old club have no quarrel with the deal and has backed his successor at Fratton Park - Tony Adams - to invest the money from Defoe's sale wisely.

Fantastic deal

"What happened was a case of people saying I've gone and nicked Jermain Defoe out of Portsmouth and the Portsmouth fans are disappointed," Redknapp told Sky Sports.

"Portsmouth were pleased to sell Jermain in the end, let's be honest. It was a good deal for them, what a fantastic deal. They've gone and made a massive profit in a year.

"It gives Tony the chance to go and bring his own players in. He obviously wants to build his own team, which I can understand. He doesn't want to have a team where everybody says, 'Oh, they're Harry's players'.

"If we hadn't have bought him, somebody else would have bought him. He was up for sale and (Portsmouth chief executive) Peter Storrie did a great deal today for the club.

"It was a good deal for us as well, so everybody is happy.

"Portsmouth are happy with the money, they've got a fantastic deal and I'm happy to have a good player here and we all move on.

"I'm sure Tony will spend the money wisely and he'll bring some good players in and improve Portsmouth's team, and strengthen their squad even more."