Former Sunderland forward Jermain Defoe has opened up on his shock decision to retire less than two months after agreeing to a second spell at the Stadium of Light. The 39-year-old made a fairytale return to the club in January, penning a deal over four years after his first, goal-laden stint came to an end.
However, the dream scenario involving Defoe firing the Black Cats to promotion did not come to fruition and less than two months after his contract was signed, he retired from playing completely. Speaking as a pundit on Sky Sports' Renault Super Sunday, he said: "I spoke to someone the other day and I said if it's a series on Netflix then it'd be great! I come back and we get into the play-offs and then get promoted.
"But it's football and you just never know what is going to happen. When you get to the back end of your career and you're in and out of the team and not really playing then I think it becomes harder. Because what happens is if you don't play on the Saturday then the Sunday you might be training. I feel like when you're not playing, you're training harder to get yourself up to speed.
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"Before I went back to Sunderland I hadn't played anywhere for like six months so I was trying to get up to speed which was difficult anyway. You get little niggles and I felt restricted in terms of my movement. It wasn't only that but it's about maybe blocking the way for someone else coming through. There's good players coming back from injury. I didn't really want to block the way for someone else coming back."
Defoe managed just seven appearances after returning to the North East but started just twice and did not score a single goal. His overall record in a Black Cats shirt, however, remains impressive and stands at 37 goals in 100 appearances.
Promotion is still a possibility for Sunderland, who currently occupy sixth place in the League One table and have not lost any of their last seven matches.
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