Jermain Defoe has vented his frustrations at his slow start to life back at Bournemouth after starting on the bench in their first two Premier League games of the season.
Bournemouth won the race to sign Defoe during the summer after he was released from his Sunderland contract following relegation from the Premier League last season.
Defoe was expected to be Bournemouth’s new first choice striker but has so far been forced to watch his teammates from the bench in their opening league matches.
The 34-year-old opted to leave Sunderland in order to boost his chances of making Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the 2018 World Cup and has now sent a message to Howe about his fitness.
“Itching to start? Yes, of course I am - everybody wants to play and I think the manager knows I’m ready now,” The Daily Mirror quote Defoe as saying.
“I remember I missed a couple of pre-season games for Sunderland but I played the first game of the season and I felt sharp, so it doesn’t take me long to get my fitness. Like I said, everybody wants to play, not just me.”
Bournemouth have lost both of their opening matches against Watford and West Brom and have failed to score in both games. Defoe, who has only had 57 minutes of action in that time, will start against Birmingham in the League Cup in midweek in an attempt to improve the team’s fortunes in front of goal.
Since the start of last season, only Harry Kane (29) and Dele Alli (19) have scored more goals than Defoe (15) of all English players in the Premier League.
