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Jermain Defoe says midfielder Tottenham sold for just £15m is the smartest player he’s ever played with

Charles Jones

Fri 2 May 2025 16:45, UK

Jermain Defoe has played with some absolute football geniuses.

Indeed, throughout his career, Defoe has been lucky enough to call the likes of Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and even Luka Modric teammates.

Jermain Defoe has played with some of the smartest footballers around, and now, he’s named which former teammate of his has the highest footballing IQ.

Defoe could’ve picked from a whole host of star names, but the former Spurs striker actually picked Michael Carrick as the player he believes was the smartest on the pitch.

Carrick was a very underrated player in a lot of ways, and Defoe believes he had a footballing brain that was unmatched.

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Jermain Defoe says Michael Carrick had the best footballing brain he’s seen

Defoe was asked to build the perfect player made up of his former teammates.

Throughout his career, Defoe has played with some truly amazing players.

At West Ham, Defoe played with the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole – a player Harry Redknapp said could’ve been as good as Lionel Messi.

Meanwhile, at Tottenham he worked with players such as Robbie Keane, Dimitar Berbatov, Gareth Bale and Luka Modric, as well as Carrick, before his £15m move to Manchester United.

On top of that, Defoe worked with England’s Golden Generation of players.

However, according to the former striker, Carrick was the smartest player he ever worked with.

Bruno Fernandes made a similar claim about Carrick recently.

Defoe’s perfect player would certainly be an incredible footballer.

Jermain Defoe’s record alongside Michael Carrick

Defoe and Carrick, interestingly, were inseperable during their footballing careers.

Indeed, Carrick and Defoe played together for West Ham, England U21s, Tottenham and the England senior team.

Defoe also thought he would sign for Man Utd at one point, so they almost reunited again at Old Trafford.

Interestingly, these two didn’t have the best of records together, despite the fact Defoe has hailed Carrick here.

Carrick only assisted Defoe once in his career, while Defoe’s goalscoring ratio in games he played with Carrick wasn’t brilliant either.

For one reason or another, these two didn’t manage to have all that much success together, despite the fact, in theory, Carrick and Defoe should be a fantastic spine for any team.