Jermain Defoe and ‘those’ wages….

Over the past few days there’s been more and more media discussion about something which, at this stage, remains only reported and speculated without being properly verified, but which does seem fairly accurate in truth. Realistically speaking.

According to various sources, Jermain Defoe’s £65,000 Bournemouth wages are now being paid in the majority by Rangers, who are said to be shelling out £35,000 for the front-man’s services.

No one other than three parties knows the truth behind this – the player’s agent, the club’s representative/certain board members and of course Defoe himself, but we have to say it sets alarm bells ringing big time.

At this stage of our club’s recovery, we are not yet fiscally reliable enough to commit to wages of that level – and even back in the days of Dick Advocaat’s lavish spending we rarely remember numbers that high either.

So if it is true that we are breaking the bank to fund Jermain Defoe’s wages, in part, it’s not something we can endorse here at the site.

Would we be more accepting if it was a 25-year old 20+ goalscorer who was at the peak of his powers? Maybe – but even then we just aren’t in that market.

So to shell out £35,000 a week to fund a 36-year old on loan who hasn’t scored since last spring is… ill-guided in our opinion.

It’s clearly Gerrard’s decision, and we have to go with it, but it amounts to around £2M a year and even if he works out, it’s a LOT of cash for what we’ve been given.

Gerrard’s record with strikers has been absolutely abysmal so far – Kyle Lafferty and Umar Sadiq are his work in that market to this point, and he better hope Defoe turns out to be a bargain for the kind of money we’re allegedly paying for him.

Rangers come first. The health of our club is paramount. And if it really is true that we’re paying well over £30K then it’s shaky territory and not something we’re comfortable with.

At all.