[turkeydinner]

Toronto FC and England striker Jermain Defoe has completed his move to Sunderland, signing a three-and-a-half-year deal with the club.

Defoe, 32, played alongside Gus Poyet during the first of his two spells at Tottenham, and was then coached by the Sunderland manager at White Hart Lane

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30812115

Did someone say 14M inc Jozy Altidore was the Fee? Plus 3.5 yr contract

Great if he scores the goals, unless you have someone who does that you`ll go down no matter how well your playing and Defoe has a good record of that but 32 is a risk

[St Charles Owl]

Personally I think its a ludicrous amount of money to pay for a striker who is 32 and hasn't played top flight football for nearly 2 years!!!! Smacks of desperation by Sunderland!! Of course he is a striker who has always scored so if he can do that with any consistency then they will see it as money well spent!

[turkeydinner]

Was it Roma or Lazio who paid 31M for a 31 year old Gabriel Batistuta, yes they won the league and as I recall he was gone in two years but he did win them the league and could put them away

Its a hard one I mean the clubs bottom half this and last year arent as much bad teams but often just missing someone or the luck to put it in the net, either you pay over the adds like Sunderland have or perhaps Southampton (Shane Long) or take a gamble like Leicester have done

Do think Defoe has come at an awfully steep price though and 3.5 years is a long time, Chelsea certainly wouldnt offer that!

[St Charles Owl]

Not convinced Defoe is in the same league as Batistuta was, but I see your analogy!! I do wonder how match fit he is, the MLS finished a couple of months ago so hopefully for them he can get fully fit quickly or they could find themselves with 4-5 less gmes left before he can be effective. How did he play today?

[turkeydinner]

I didnt see but read it was the first time he hadnt scored for a team he debuted for

who else is there? If you were shopping in the UK market for scorers to keep you up

How much would Jordan Rhodes cost 12m plus and untested at top level, personally I think Rhodes is a case of supply him decent service and he`d prosper
Gary Hooper is a good call perhaps 6m? Played within a defensive Norwich side which wasnt suited to the offensive players the club bought, still think he could cut the EPL
Peter Crouch, he probably wont score more than 10-12 a season and on big wages
Darren Bent, hasnt done himself many favours by not scoring much whilst out on loan, big wages again
Andy Johnson, even even more of a gamble than a Eastern European forward!
Carlton Cole, hard working but dosent score lots, would probably get for not too much outlay though
Rudy Gestede (6m) David Mccoldrick(8m) shopping for a forward isnt cheap in the championship