England and Spurs striker Jermain Defoe has hailed the influence of mentor Harry Redknapp on his career.
Striker repays faith shown in him by boss
England and Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe has hailed the influence of mentor Harry Redknapp on his career.
Redknapp signed Defoe for West Ham 11 years ago from the Football Association National School of Excellence where the striker had been given a scholarship.
Since then he has followed Redknapp to Portsmouth and now to present club Spurs and he is full of praise of his boss' faith in him.
Defoe told the
Daily Mirror: "I was only 16 when I went to have a look at West Ham but the manager at the time, Harry, was great to me.
Dream
"As soon as I walked in I saw players like Ian Wright, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand. As a young boy it was like a dream. This was where I wanted to be.
"When I was in the youth team, I'd signed my contract and I'd got my foot in the door playing for the Under 17 side. I'd only had a few games before I was moved up to the U19s.
"In my first season with them we won a cup and I scored nearly 50 goals and I was loving my football.
"I'd go to bed at nine o'clock, get in early the next day for training and stay behind practising my finishing with legends like Wrighty, Paolo Di Canio, Lampard."
Impressed
Defoe impressed and was just 17 when Redknapp handed him his first-team debut in the League Cup clash against Walsall in 2000, where he scored the only goal.
He was then loaned to Redknapp's former club Bournemouth to gain first-team experience and scored in 10 consecutive games, equalling a post-war record set by John Aldridge.
Recalling scoring on his debut, Defoe added: "I came on for six minutes and I hit the winner. After that, Harry told me that he didn't want me playing in the reserves any more.
"He wanted me to go out on loan to another team, to get some experience then to come back to play with the first team.
"So just before my 18th birthday I went on loan to Bournemouth. Harry would watch the games and that gave me the confidence to break that record."
