Tottenham Hotspur striker Jermain Defoe has revealed that he asked to leave White Hart Lane on a loan move in January.

The England international has dropped down the ranks at Spurs, with Emmanuel Adebayor and Rafael van der Vaart getting the nod ahead of the 29-year-old throughout the season.

"I didn't want to leave," The Mirror quotes Defoe as saying. "I don't go thinking, 'I want to go to this club or that club.' But in January I just wasn't playing enough and I did go to the manager [Harry Redknapp] and ask to go out on loan.

"He said to me, 'I don't want you to go out on loan. We are trying to do something special here. Don't go.' And so I stayed. And I worked hard to keep myself sharp."

Defoe has received a place in Redknapp's starting lineup just 11 times during the campaign.