Jermain Defoe registers interest in becoming Leeds United Championship rivals' next manager

Former England international Jermain Defoe has thrown his hat in the ring to become the next manager of Sunderland. Sunderland, who travel to Leeds United on Tuesday night, are without a permanent head coach at present after sacking Michael Beale in February with Mike Dodds taking on the role on an interim basis until the end of the season.

The Black Cats were among those teams targeting a play-off place over Christmas, but over the last couple of months they have slipped out of the top half of the table and on Monday they were beaten 5-1 at the Stadium of Light by Blackburn Rovers. As such, the club are in desperate need of a new man with fresh ideas to step in and Defoe believes he could be that guy.

The 41-year-old had two spells at Sunderland as a player and since his retirement in 2022, he has been working in coaching. Defoe is currently working at another of his former clubs Tottenham Hotspur as an Under-18s coach, building on the limited experience he picked up as a player-coach at Rangers.

He has ambitions of becoming a manager in the not too distant future, though, and he believes Sunderland would be the ideal club.

"If I got a phone call now and they said ‘do you want to be Sunderland manager?’...when you’ve had these dreams, it’d be a dream because I understand it’s a massive club, it’s a Premier League club," Defoe told the Northern Echo. "Even when I was a player, I always used to say I'd love to manage this club.

"If I got an opportunity, I wouldn't shy away from it, let's go. The most important thing is knowing who you'll take with you and I've got that.

"I won't mention names but I know exactly who I'd bring in. When you look at the current squad of young players, I hear people talk about needing experience. My experience is working with young players, understanding what they need and it forces you to coach."

He added: "If I got a phone call from Kristjaan (Speakman) or Kyril (Louis-Dreyfus), get me my suit, get me my whistle and let’s go and win games, it’s as simple as that. These are my people. I know."