Toronto FC are expected to announce the signing of Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe by the end of next week.
The clubs are thought to have agreed on a fee of £6 million for the England international to move to the BMO Field.
Once the deal is fully complete, he is to be loaned back to the Premier League club until March when he will travel to Canada to join up with the squad ahead of the new MLS season.
Reds manager Ryan Nelsen has been keen to add Defoe to his squad in order to bolster his attacking option after last season’s leading goalscorer Robert Earnshaw was released.
Nelsen played with the Spurs man during his own spell at White Hart in his playing career.
The Englishman has missed Tottenham’s last two league games through a hamstring injury. He did play under new boss Tim Sherwood in their League Cup loss to West Ham though last month. During the reign of previous manager Andre Villas-Boas, Defoe was down the pecking order behind Roberto Soldado who often played as the lone striker in the starting line-up.
The current Spurs striker still has plans to take part in the World Cup in Brazil later this year. He has played on 55 occasions for England, scoring 19 goals in those appearances.
According to the stats on Bet365’s US sports betting page, Defoe has netted nine times this season for club and country in 21 games. The majority of his appearances have come in the League Cup and in the UEFA Europa League where he has scored seven in five games.
He joined Tottenham in 2004 from West Ham. But for a brief spell at Portsmouth during the 2008/09 campaign, he has been at the North London club ever since, becoming a favourite of fans who bet on soccer.
The striker is likely to become Toronto’s highest paid player in history.
