Lee Johnson reluctant for Sunderland to re-sign Jermain Defoe

The Stadium of Light hierarchy have given the green light to a move to re-sign Defoe, who is a free agent following his release from Rangers earlier this month.

The necessary funds are available to offer Defoe a contract to the end of the season, at which stage the 39-year-old is expected to announce his retirement from playing.

Defoe confirmed there had been contact with Sunderland during an interview on talkSPORT this week, and while the striker is also understood to have held preliminary discussions with Oxford United and Ipswich Town as well as a couple of Championship clubs, his preference is to make an emotional return to Wearside and try to help the Black Cats win promotion from League One.

However, the veteran forward remains in limbo, with Johnson’s reluctance to agree to a deal the main barrier to him returning to the North-East.

Sunderland’s head coach has not completely ruled out re-signing Defoe and is known to have spoken to the forward directly, but he is believed to harbour reservations about the wisdom of adding him to his squad at such a crucial stage of the season.

Having worked so hard to foster a sense of unity and togetherness within the squad, with a number of experienced high earners having left when their contracts expired at the end of last season, it would be understandable if Johnson had concerns about adding Defoe, a high-profile former international coming towards the end of his career, to the mix.

Similarly, having spoken at length about his desire to reduce the average age of Sunderland’s squad and ensure the club’s young players had an opportunity to progress in the first team, it would be no surprise if Johnson was reluctant to make what would effectively be a U-turn by signing Defoe, a player who turned 39 last October.

There are also question marks over Defoe’s ability to make an immediate impact given that he has only played nine minutes of senior football in the whole of this season.

Sunderland could do with an additional attacking option this month given that Nathan Broadhead is expected to be sidelined for at least another month, but ideally, that player would be able to step straight into the squad as competition for Ross Stewart rather than require a period of time to get fully up to speed.

Speaking about whether he was interested in signing Defoe at his press conference earlier this week, Johnson said: “I think it’s a difficult question because there’s so many elements that go into that.

“You’ve got the football side, you’ve got the condition of the player in terms of game time, you’ve got the injury record. Everything has to be looked at it in fine detail.

“Probably one of the biggest things is the connection between coach and player as well. I think that becomes really important. I would always want, talking about Danny Batth and players that we’ve brought in, I’ve always felt that connection.

“Of course, they are signing for the football club first and foremost, but the coach is picking the team and that becomes really important.

“To answer the question, of course in principle it sounds like a fantastic idea but at the same time there’s so many intricacies that have to be right for all parties to be able to be comfortable and happy with any particular signing.”