Source: PA
Defoe set to undergo surgery
Jermain Defoe will miss England's European Championship qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland after being forced to undergo groin surgery.
The Tottenham striker will go under the knife next week in a bid to cure a problem that has dogged him since the World Cup. Spurs boss Harry Redknapp revealed on Tuesday the 27-year-old will be out for a minimum of two weeks and maybe even as long as a month.
That would mean he will sit out his club's Barclays Premier League games against West Brom and Wolves, on top of England's Euro 2012 openers on September 3 and 7.
He had been due to have the operation last Thursday but the German specialist who recently performed a similar operation on team-mate Alan Hutton was unavailable until next week.
Defoe missed Saturday's Premier League win at Stoke after aggravating the problem but he is expected to play some part in Wednesday's Champions League clash with Young Boys.
"He's not trained a lot," Redknapp said. "When he has trained, he's been all right, he's been sticking goals in. But then he's had days off where he couldn't train. And he's getting worse, he's getting worse all the time. Sixty minutes is about as much as he can last."
