Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan believes Jermain Defoe should go down the route of coaching following his retirement from professional football. Defoe announced he was hanging up his boots in a lengthy statement on Wednesday just two months after making his return to Sunderland.
The 39-year-old enjoyed a glittering playing career as he was capped 57 times by England, while also scoring 163 goals in just shy of 500 Premier League appearances. 34 of those goals came when he was with the Black Cats, where he established himself as not just a legend on the pitch, but off it too due to the relationship he formed with Bradley Lowery.
Defoe was one of the most predatory strikers of his generation, with his incisive finishing and quick movement allowing him to become one of the best finishers around. And it is for that reason, as well as the way he articulates himself, that Jordan thinks he would be able to pass on his wealth of knowledge to upcoming strikers.
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Speaking to talkSPORT, he said: “He loves his football, and he has had a great career. After 22 years, there’s always a possibility you want to change and so something different but you know what you’re good at. And if he’s good at football then that’s perhaps the lane he should be involved in. If he is going to get his coaching badges then I think that is a good thing.
"We need to keep the talent pool that can deal with developing strikers and of course, his ethnicity comes into play because we want to see more black players to get into coaching. And I am pleased to see that he is considering that because the way he speaks lends you to the belief that he is still a very effective and balanced young man.
"At 39 years old, he’s still a young man and he is unaffected by the trappings of his career, his success and the finances that have gone with it. I hope he does stay in the game and I hope he does go and get his coaching badges because I think there will be an opportunity for him to be a good coach I suspect.”
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