AVB Claims Striker Will Be At Tottenham After Deadline Day

Andre Villas-Boas insists that Jermain Defoe is a part of his plans for the season ahead, with the Tottenham manager lauding the striker for his performance in the Europa League this week.

Defoe had a disappointing campaign for Spurs last season which led to speculation that he might be set for an exit, especially after the club purchased Roberto Soldado in the summer.

But Villas-Boas has argued that after Defoe's performance against Dinamo Tbilisi - where the England international scored twice to take the side to a 8-0 aggregate win - it's clear that he has a part to play at Tottenham this season.

"I think he will be here after the closure of the transfer window," he told reporters. "He has delivered the goals when we wanted. He has come on in the last two Premier League games and he has done extremely well for the team.

"He is a great professional with a great attitude and today he delivered a great performance.

"At the moment, we have played with one striker and Jermain and Soldado are competing for that spot with [Emmanuel Adebayor] out. There is competition and I think that is what is created in any big team."

Adebayor has been the subject of a great deal of transfer rumours himself after having an equally disappointing season. The Togo international was believed to be set for a move to Turkey and reports also claimed that Daniel Levy might want to offload him as part of Gareth Bale's move to Real Madrid.

But with deadline day just four days away it does appear that Villas-Boas is happy with his striking line-up. New signing Soldado has so far scored three goals in four games and the manager looks to be concentrating more on the attacking positions behind the strikers.