Crystal Palace want Jermain Defoe as Sam Allardyce admits he is eyeing reunion with Sunderland striker this summer
Striker helped keep up Black Cats under Allardyce last season but is set to leave with David Moyes' men now relegated
SAM ALLARDYCE wants to sign Jermain Defoe this summer.
And he hopes Crystal Palace’s ongoing survival battle doesn’t mean he loses ground in the race to land the striker.
Newcastle and West Ham were the first clubs to show interest, while West Brom have now joined the race for Defoe.
The 34-year-old will leave Sunderland this summer after the Black Cats were condemned to relegation to the Championship last season.
And Allardyce – who worked with Defoe at the Stadium of Light last season – is keen to set up a reunion with the England striker.
But he knows Defoe’s availability will trigger interest from a number of Premier League rivals.
Allardyce said: “If we are safe and Jermain Defoe is available, and he wants to come to Crystal Palace, I would be interested.
“Until that time when we are safe, I can’t pursue that. When we are safe, someone else who is already safe may already have done it. Who knows?”
The manager believes Palace need one more win to draw a line under any relegation concerns – and will not plan for next season before safety has been secured.
He said: “I’m not interested in who will come and go.
“When we’re secure and safe in the Premier League as hopefully we are, we can talk about all the agents ringing in with their players… and I’ll tell you if the agent is telling the truth or not.”
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Baggies boss Tony Pulis also hinted that he would be keen on on landing Defoe.
He said: "Effectively he's a free agent, but that still brings an enormous cost to whichever club takes Jermain.
"We've got our fingers in the pie on quite a few players and we'll see how we go on those players. If Jermain's one of them, we'll be pushing on that one if we can.
"When Saido left we had Robson-Kanu and Salomon, a free transfer and a player that's only spent one season in the Premier League, so we knew that was an area we had to improve.
"There was no-one there at the time that we could get in. And I don't want to waste people's money by spending a lot of money on just a back-up.
We have to try and bring players in who are going to improve the first XI and keep the club improving that way."