5 players who followed their manager to new clubs

#5 Harry Redknapp & Jermain Defoe (West Ham, Portsmouth & Tottenham)

Harry Redknapp has signed Jermaine Defoe on

The ultimate "wheeler and dealer" manager, Harry Redknapp could appear on this list with a number of players. He signed Peter Crouch while manager of Portsmouth and Tottenham after the giant striker initially played for him at Southampton. Redknapp also signed Nico Kranjcar for Portsmouth, Tottenham, and on loan at QPR.

However, we chose Jermaine Defoe for this list as the bond between himself and Redknapp is the most special of the lot. It was Redknapp who gave Defoe the platform to launch his career when signing him as a 16-year-old from Charlton Athletic in 1999. The controversial move saw Charlton awarded around €2 million in compensation.

Defoe played his first season at West Ham in the Under 19s team, winning the Academy League title in 1999/00. His performances at youth level impressed Redknapp and he was called up to West Ham first team for the following season, making his full debut aged just 19. Still raw, Defoe was loaned out to Redknapp's former club, Bournemouth, for a season-long loan.

Upon Defoe's return from his loan spell, Redknapp had moved on to a Director of Football role at Portsmouth. However, the striker never forgets the belief Redknapp had in him at the beginning of his career, later telling the Daily Star:

"Even when I came to Bournemouth on loan, he used to come to all the home games. Every home game he was here."

Defoe became prolific for West Ham, scoring 29 goals in 93 appearances and earned a high-profile move to Spurs. Redknapp, in the meantime, had been at Portsmouth, Southampton, and was back at Portsmouth again. It was during his second spell in charge of Pompey that we would meet Defoe again.

In January 2008, Defoe was struggling for a first team place in a strong Spurs side and made the move to rejoin Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth for around €12 million. He was prolific for Pompey during the second half of the 2007/08 season, scoring eight goals in 12 appearances.

However, at the end of the season, Redknapp once again departed his management position. A few months later, he replaced the sacked Juande Ramos as the new manager at Spurs. Defoe, who had remained at Portsmouth was quickly targeted and joined Redknapp for the third time in January 2009 for around €19 million.

The next season, Defoe and Redknapp helped Spurs to their most successful season at that time, finishing 4th and qualifying for the Champions League. Defoe went on to be an integral part of the Spurs side which finished 4th twice in three years and reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Redknapp was sacked by Spurs in the summer of 2012 while Defoe remained at White Hart Lane until 2014, scoring 76 goals in 182 games. The last word on this relationship must go to Defoe who said of Harry Redknapp in FourFourTwo documentary: The Art of Goalscoring - "I love him... I still message him now."