Jermaine Defoe appears to have taken a very subtle dig at Bournemouth and Eddie Howe by admitting he felt overlooked when it came to selection and he felt the manager got it wrong by doing so.

Defoe, 36, is maybe not quite at the Gerrard level of legendary but isn’t far off, and certainly can boast the ability which deserves to play more often than not.

But this season, consigned to just 22 minutes of first-team action, he’s revealed on his switch to Rangers than he feels his playing time should have been much higher:

“There were times when I felt I should have played and it wasn’t happening for whatever reason. I had a conversation with him (Howe) and said I just wanted to play football. That’s what I do”

In fairness to Defoe he’s equally been very professional about the whole thing, admitting he sacrificed his own happiness to help the others around him, but that it did hurt, and thanking Howe for his help in getting the move.

But similarly, Jermain Defoe felt he should be playing more than he did, and if that’s not a very gentle criticism of Howe (who just spent £19M on a broken player over selecting Defoe), we’re not sure what is.