Jermain Defoe’s ‘that’s me done’ moment which ended Sunderland career

In order to wrap out his playing career, Jermain Defoe returned to Sunderland, but things did not go as planned, leaving him upset with how it ended.

After just two months and seven games, the 41-year-old abruptly quit the Black Cats on January 31, 2022, after rejoining them for a second stint. Defoe talked about how his career ended at Sunderland and how injuries eventually took their toll before he finally hung up his boots on the BBC’s Defoe & Deeney Football Firsts podcast.

He said: “Before I went to Sunderland, I hadn’t played in about two or three months. Stevie [Gerrard] went and Giovanni van Bronckhorst came in. I had a meeting with him and he basically said to me, ‘listen, what’s this player/coach thing?’. ‘I see you in training, you’re sharp, what’s the situation? Do you want to play or do you want to coach?’

“I said I want to play. To be totally honest, I didn’t even want the player/coach role. It was forced upon me. So I decided to go to Sunderland. Alex Neil came in and to be totally honest, what I was promised just never happened. I think the manager just went against everything the people upstairs were telling me.”

Injuries took their toll on Defoe in the end and he recalls: “I remember training, and it was sort of on my mind anyway, because of the way my body was feeling. I picked up a hamstring, so I was getting frustrated at the niggles, so I was restricted anyway and then just thinking I don’t know if I can do this.

“Also, there were a few other young forwards in the building and I thought, if I’m feeling like this – I’ve never felt like this before – I just felt just because of my name I was blocking the path for someone else coming through.

“I thought ‘this isn’t right’ and if I’m not in it fully there’s no point in me being here so I just phoned my mum and I said ‘that’s me done’.”

Defoe had two spells at the Stadium of Light. He scored four goals in 17 appearances in the Premier League season of 2014/15 and in the following term he managed 18 goals in 33. In 2016/17 he nabbed 15 goals in 37 games before moving to AFC Bournemouth.

He played seven times for Sunderland in the 2021/22 League One promotion campaign without managing to find the net. It was his final stint as a player having been at West Ham united, Tottenham, Hotspur, Portsmouth, Toronto, Sunderland, AFC Bournemouth and Rangers.