this weekend to complete his transfer to Toronto FC

Jermain Defoe is expected to arrive in Canada this weekend to complete his transfer to Toronto FC from Tottenham Hotspur. The England international will put the finishing touches to his move to North America for an MLS record transfer fee, in excess of $10 million, and earn himself a bumper pay packet thought to be around $150,000 a week. Defoes signing will end a long courtship between the club and player which included London meetings with team management back in October, his mother being hosted by the club for a week in Toronto last fall, and phone calls from rapper Drake to help persuade Defoe to make the move. News of Toronto FCs interest in the striker was first revealed on MLS on TSN in October, and at the time, my colleague Kristian Jack asked TFC Head Coach Ryan Nelsen about his interest in signing his former Spurs teammate: "Jermain Defoe in this league? Look what Di Vaio has done! My goodness - incredible player," Nelsen raved. "One of the most natural goal scorers I have ever come across. Always out training, always trying to score, a great guy. To get a guy like Defoe for MLS, I cannot think of many that are more suited. It would be incredible," he said. While Defoe has been out of favour at Tottenham this season and has seen only limited playing time, he still has ambitions of making Englands squad for this years World Cup in Brazil. He has scored 19 goals in 55 appearances for his country and was involved throughout the recent World Cup Qualifying campaign. Once the deal is completed, it is likely he will head back to England on loan for a couple of months. He could be loaned back to Spurs, but there is also a possibility he will return to his former club West Ham United. When he does pull on the Red jersey, he will join a squad that has been undergoing a significant and impressive remake under new General Manager Tim Bezbatchenko. Defoes signing is not only a positive step because of the impact he can have on the pitch. It is a signal that finally the management of the team can deliver on promises. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment President Tim Leiweke has been extremely vocal about his desire to sign a big name player for this club. Where others have failed in the past, Leiweke will have delivered. The man who signed David Beckham for LA Galaxy set his sights on making a splash at Toronto FC within days of joining the organization. "You cannot make a mistake on a DP," Leiweke said last summer. "You have to be right. Youve got to find a guy with character, a player thats able to understand the uniqueness of Major League Soccer and the style of play that we have here." Defoe will be the second Designated Player signing of the winter for Toronto, following on from 24-year-old Brazilian forward Gilberto. Those two players will join experienced MLS additions Dwayne De Rosario, Justin Morrow and Jackson in giving Toronto a new core of key players for 2014. Defoes arrival is a potential game-changer for this franchise. Through seven years of turmoil Toronto FC has gradually lost the fervent support it had when the club launched, while also seeing its credibility disappear within Major League Soccer after a series of failures. Now, for the first time, there is a realistic opportunity to turn things around. Toronto FC will open the clubs eighth MLS season on the road in Seattle on Saturday, March 15. Kris Bryant Jersey . Wilson hit Schenn from behind during Tuesday nights game in Philadelphia, earning a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct. He has a phone hearing with the department of player safety, which limits any potential suspension to five or fewer games. Jason Heyward Jersey .FIFA said its appeals panel ruled the case not admissible.The former U.S. Attorney had objected to ethics judge Joachim Eckerts summary of the World Cup bid investigation, claiming numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of his work. http://www.cubsauthentic.com/cubs-brandon-morrow-jersey/ . -- Rookie Victor Oladipo came off the bench to score 20 points and Glen Davis had 18, leading the Orlando Magic to a 112-98 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night. Steve Cishek Cubs Jersey . Each day, TSN.ca provides the latest rumours, reports and speculation from around the NHL beat. Duck Calling With several marquee centres available via trade and expected to be available via free agency, the Anaheim Ducks could be primed to be big players in the coming days. Jon Lester Jersey . Despite Arsenals financial firepower, the 31-year-old midfielder was the only arrival in the January transfer window. Signed until the end of the season as injury cover, Kallstrom might not be fit until mid-March after arriving Friday at Arsenal having injured his back earlier in the week while training with Spartak Moscow.SAN FRANCISCO - A high school basketball tournament on the Northern California coast has become the latest flashpoint in the ongoing protests over police killings of unarmed black men after a school was disinvited because of concerns its players would wear T-shirts printed with the words I Cant Breathe during warmups.The athletic director at Fort Bragg High School informed his counterpart at Mendocino High School this week that neither the boys nor girls team would be allowed to participate in the three-day tournament hosted by Fort Bragg High starting Monday, Mendocino Unified School District Superintendent Jason Morse said.The boys were reinstated after all but one player agreed not to wear the shirts inspired by the last words of Eric Garner, the New York man who died after an officer put him in a chokehold, while on the Fort Bragg campus during the Vern Piver Holiday Classic tournament, Morse said. Too few girl players accepted the condition for the team to field a tournament squad, he said.Mendocino varsity teams first wore the I Cant Breathe T-shirts before a game with Fort Bragg on Dec. 16, according to the girls coach, Caedyn Feehan. The girls also wore them before games at two other tournaments and didnt receive any blowback, Feehan said.I didnt even know what it meant. I thought it was a joke about how I had conditioned them so hard, Feehan said. None of the administrators knew what it was or that any of them were doing it in advance. This was entirely for their cause that they had strong feelings about.Professional basketball players such as LeBron James, Derrick Rose and Kyrie Irving wore I Cant Breathe shirts during warmups this month without repercussions from the NBA. After Kobe Bryant and other Los Angeles Lakers players wore them before a game and on the bench on Dec. 9, coach Byron Scott said he viewed it as a matter of freedom of choice and freedom of speech.Thats how Marc Woods, whose 16-year-old son Connor plans to sit out the tournament, sees it. Connor wore the T-shirt at the Dec. 16 game in the name of team solidarity, but the shirt has now taken a constitutional angle, the father said.ddddddddddddMarc Woods said he brought the issue to the American Civil Liberties Union, and hopes to hear back after the holidays. He referred to a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Tinker v. Des Moines, which found high school students wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War were protected by the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.This is completely a First Amendment issue, Marc Woods said. Thats why Im offended.Bruce Triplett, the athletic director at Fort Bragg High, did not return a call and email seeking comment. Principal Rebecca Walker issued a written statement Friday saying school administrators respected the Mendocino teams for paying attention to what is going on in the world around them and that the T-shirts were being prohibited as a security precaution.To protect the safety and well-being of all tournament participants it is necessary to ensure that all political statements and or protests are kept away from this tournament, wrote Walker, who said she was speaking on behalf of the athletic director and the Fort Bragg school superintendent. We are a small school district that simply does not have the resources to ensure the safety and well-being of our staff, students and guests at the tournament should someone get upset and choose to act out.Marc Woods, whose father was a California Highway Patrol officer, said he is outraged by what he sees as using intimidation to silence players and fans. Fort Bragg administrators have warned spectators who plan to protest the T-shirt ban that they will be asked to leave, he said.It doesnt take a lot to suppress the exchange of ideas when you put fear into it, Marc Woods said.Both schools are located in Mendocino County, known for redwood forests, rugged coastline and marijuana-growing, located 120 miles north of San Francisco. The student bodies at the two schools are 1 per cent black and 50 per cent white and 41 per cent Hispanic at Fort Bragg, 75 per cent white and 9 per cent Hispanic at Mendocino._____Associated Press Fresno Correspondent Scott Smith contributed to this report. ' ' '