Source: Telegraph
Tony Adams paves way for Jermain Defoe transfer bidding war
Defoe is ruled out of the third round match with Bristol City at Fratton Park after the England striker called in sick. [LNB]Adams said the club's chief executive Peter Storrie was already in negotiations with several clubs about Defoe who joined the club eleven months ago for £9m from Tottenham. [LNB]Portsmouth are sending in a doctor to check on Defoe, 26, who missed last year's FA Cup final victory over Cardiff because he had been cup-tied in one of his last appearances for Tottenham. [LNB]Adams said: "Jermain is not very well and a doctor is going round to his house to assess him. [LNB]"Peter Storrie had a meeting with him last Wednesday, which I sat in on, and he expressed a desire to leave. I think Peter is talking to a few clubs. [LNB]"The final decision will be mine and I have a price in mind of what I think he is worth."[LNB]Portsmouth still owe around £4m to Tottenham for the original sale and Adams hinted that he could force Defoe to sit out the remainder of his two and a half year contract. [LNB]"I left Jermain out of games against Liverpool and Arsenal and he was very upset. If those decisions I made tactically have influenced his decision to leave then I am sorry. [LNB]"He is a super player and a great goalscorer and I have not made up my mind whether I will sell him or not. I have to make a call on that like I did with Lassana Diarra when Real Madrid came knocking. [LNB]"If I wanted to play him against Bristol City I would have done because he is still a Portsmouth player but it looks as if that decision has been taken out of my hands by his illness."[LNB]Martin Cranie makes his first appearance of the season in a weakened Portsmouth side in which Peter Crouch will play as the sole striker. [LNB]
