Jermain Defoe suffers suspected broken foot

Jermain Defoe has suffered a suspected broken foot and could be out for at least six weeks and even the rest of the season.
The blow casts Tottenham Hotspur’s campaign into fresh turmoil. The £15 million striker will miss the Barclays Premier League match away to Bolton Wanderers today and the North London derby with Arsenal next Sunday, as well as the Carling Cup final against Manchester United on March 1.
He will also be ruled out of consideration for England’s World Cup qualifying matches at home to Slovakia on Saturday, March 28 and Ukraine on Wednesday, April 1.
Defoe has been back at Tottenham for only five matches and the metatarsal injury could result in the club launching a fresh bid for Robbie Keane.
Defoe, who rejoined Spurs from Portsmouth three weeks ago, had scored three goals since returning to White Hart Lane to help to lead the club out of the relegation zone. But they sit only three points above the bottom three and Harry Redknapp, the manager, is certain to put pressure on the board to provide funds for a replacement.
Redknapp remained hopeful that tests last night would reveal that Defoe’s injury was not severe. If the manager’s worst fears are realised, though, Tottenham will be left with only Roman Pavlyuchenko and Fraizer Campbell as available fit strikers, with Darren Bent’s future in limbo.
Defoe is understood to have suffered the fracture in training on Thursday morning and was not involved in yesterday’s session.
The injury completes a topsy-turvy time for the player, who was welcomed back to White Hart Lane only this month as a homecoming hero. It also comes at a bad time for him with Fabio Capello, the England manager, due to name his first international squad of the season next week for the friendly against Spain in Seville a week on Wednesday.
Keane, out of favour at Liverpool, is high on Redknapp’s list of possible replacements after falling out with Rafael Benítez, but Spurs have only until 5pm on Monday, when the transfer window closes, to find a new forward. While Redknapp has been working hard to bring players in this month, one who could be departing is Giovani dos Santos. Portsmouth were in talks about a £7 million bid for the Mexico midfield player who joined Spurs from Barcelona for £4.7 million only last summer.
source:the times