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TORONTO - After weeks of rumour and speculation about his future in MLS, star striker Jermain Defoe presented his side of the story Wednesday.Bottom line? The 31-year-old English international is happy to be back in Toronto and any transfer talk was out of his hands.Toronto FC has acknowledged turning down a franchise-record bid for Defoe at the closing of the summer transfer window and the talk did not stop there. Such speculation, said Defoe, is part of football and players have no control over offers from other clubs.In England, its normal a€” where theres speculation about players leaving, players going ... At the end of the day Im still a TFC player and Im totally committed to the cause, he told a news conference Wednesday, his first public comments since returning from England where he had been nursing a groin injury.For me it was sort of like Oh here we go again, he added. It was just normal. I didnt really pay too much attention to it because I think my main focus was trying to get fit. People that know me, they know I love playing football and I find it really it difficult to be on the sidelines. Especially at such a crucial time, pushing for the playoffs. I want to be involved, I want to score goals, I want to push the club forward.It was a polished 17 1/2-minute solo performance from Defoe, sitting at a table in front of a sizable media corps in the upstairs lounge at TFCs training centre. Defoe had shrugged off help from handlers in advance, saying he knew what he wanted to say.I never came out anyway and said I wanted to leave, Defoe, tattoos peeking out from a black T-shirt above jeans, said by way of summary.One suspects Defoes agent did not sit on his hands during the transfer window and who can blame him. Goal-scoring strikers are always in demand and Defoe has ties to the likes of Queens Park Rangers manager Harry Redknapp.Still Defoe single-handedly managed to stuff the transfer genie back into the bottle, at least for a while.I dont know whats going to happen in the future. All I can say to the fans is Im fully committed, he said.And with a salary listed at US$6.18 million this season, not to mention a reported list of perks that would do Van Halen proud, the five-foot-seven striker is not exactly roughing it on this side of the Atlantic.He is back but not yet fully healthy.Defoe ran Tuesday, only the second time since the injury, and said there was no negative reaction. He did some work in the gym Wednesday and hopes to be back in full training Monday. An Oct. 4 game against the Galaxy in Los Angeles seems the first possible return date.He said patience is the key, given he had made the mistake of coming back too fast in the past.Toronto (10-11-7) could use him. With six games remaining, the seventh-place team is three points out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.Defoe has missed 12 games this season through injury or suspension but still leads the team in scoring with 11 goals in 16 MLS contests. He has played 150 minutes, appearing in two of TFCs 11 league games since July 19.If anything, he says he wants more football. He said going out on loan to another club to keep sharp for the next MLS season was not out of the question, with Redknapp having already made the suggestion.Its something Ive thought about doing before I come back, so Im ready to go and Im sharp and Im fit, Defoe said.Given his recent health problems, which have been blamed on playing back-to-back English and MLS seasons, adding to his football schedule would seem to be a gamble, however.He himself acknowledged he had played 14-15 months straightAgain I love my football and Ive always tried to look after my body. Im someone whos tee-total, I dont drink, I always do my stuff in the gym.Defoe insisted he has enjoyed his North American experience, calling it amazing.I think Im lucky enough to be at a fantastic football club with special fans. Ive said that many times. And theres some fantastic people at the football club. From Day 1, I walked into the changing rooms, the players downstairs, all the boys have been fantastic. I think that helped me settle in and I felt at home.Its then just down to me to get on the pitch and perform. I love scoring goals. I love playing football.There have been no shortage of stories about Defoes future on either side of the Atlantic and some made their way through to Defoe despite his best efforts.I just tried to blank it out, he said. Obviously you see things on the TV. Social medias powerful when you see things. But I just tried to block it out and just concentrate on getting myself fit so I can come back and push for the playoffs.Some stories left a mark. The former West Ham, Portsmouth and Tottenham striker made a point of denying one story that had him texting former manager Ryan Nelsen to say If youre gone, Im gone.Thats not true, said Defoe. Thats hard to sit back and read something like that when I know thats not true. I would never do anything like that.Defoe said he went back to England to get a second opinion on a lingering groin injury. An initial scan had shown a strained adductor and a lower abdominal muscle strain. He kept playing though it and it got to the point, where he could feel it while running and it was sore shooting. A second scan showed the same.Fearing he had a hernia, he went to see a specialist and was a day away from going under the knife. Instead he went to a physio he had worked with before in England and was told the problem related to his hip.He had several injections, did rehab and worked on strengthening his core.It feels a lot better, he said.Since returning, Defoe said he had met with manager Greg Vanney and came away really impressed by what he heard.As to comments from outgoing MLSE CEO Tim Leiweke that he did not expect Defoe to be back next season, Defoe said Leiweke had reached out to say he didnt mean it like that.At the end of the day, Tim knows what sort of character and what sort of person I am, otherwise I wouldnt be here in the first place, he said.Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter Sale Salomon Shoes . I kept my eyes focused up on the camera during each approach. I just tried to stay focused on my form, as I didnt know what the ball reaction was. I was quite emotional at the end. I did not actually see any of the shots in the game until I got home and watched the video. Cheap Salomon Shoes From China . His fellow Finn, 21 years his junior, had just arrived in Anaheim and was hoping to stick with the Ducks. http://www.salomoncheap.com/. Seager had another triple, a home run and a double in a rare feat not seen in more than 40 years, leading Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners past the New York Yankees 10-2. "It was a weird play," Seager said of the triple in the fourth inning. Authentic Salomon Shoes Cheap .com) - The Oklahoma City Thunder will try to get back on track Monday night when they welcome the Minnesota Timberwolves to Chesapeake Energy Arena. Salomon Shoes Outlet .ca presents its latest weekly power rankings for the 2013-14 Barclays Premier League season.ANAHEIM, Calif. - Although the Anaheim Ducks have been one of the NHLs most dominant teams all season, they hadnt managed to blow out an opponent at home since late October.With a hat trick from Corey Perry and a sputtering Toronto offence on the other end, the Ducks finally got to enjoy a stress-free third period in Anaheim.Perry scored three goals and Frederik Andersen made 28 saves for his second career shutout in the Ducks 4-0 victory over the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.Kyle Palmieri also scored in the Ducks fourth victory in five games, putting them back atop the overall standings alongside Nashville. Anaheims previous 11 home wins were all one-goal games, but the Ducks routed the Leafs in style.We want to be able to put teams away, and I think we did that tonight, said Andersen, who has 44 victories in just 64 career games.Capping his league-leading third hat trick of the season with an empty-net goal, Perry took over the team lead with 18 goals this season despite missing 15 games with illness and injury.His second goal was a breakaway set up by a long, beautiful backhand pass from captain Ryan Getzlaf, who had two assists in Anaheims first win over Toronto in seven tries.Its nice to get back on the board, said Perry, who had just one goal in his first five games back from a 10-game absence with a sprained knee. Since Ive been back, its been tough. I think I was skating a lot better tonight than I had been.Andersen responded well to the relatively few tests provided by Toronto, and the Danish netminder even got an assist on Perrys empty-netter as the forward completed his eighth career hat trick.Jonathan Bernier stopped 21 shots for the Maple Leafs, who are 1-3 under new coach Peter Horachek after taking back-to-back shutout losses in Southern California. The Leafs havent scored with a goalie in the opposite net in 162 minutes and 37 seconds, getting only an empty-net goal in their last eight periods of play.We have a lot of firepower, (and) we will find ways to score, Toronto forward James van Riemsdyk said.dddddddddddd If you look at the games, the scoring chances have been pretty even the last couple here. Were pretty happy with our process. We just have to capitalize on our chances.Toronto has scored just nine goals in six games in 2015, but has improved its defence under Horachek, who took over when Randy Carlyle was fired last week. Carlyle won the 2007 Stanley Cup during seven seasons behind the Ducks bench.Matt Beleskey and his team-leading 17 goals were a healthy scratch by Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, but Anaheims offence kept purring without him. The Ducks have scored 18 goals in their last five games.In the waning seconds of a two-man advantage in the first period, Palmieri ripped a shot in and out of the net so quickly that play didnt stop. Hampus Lindholm then scored on Bernier shortly after the penalties ended, but video review confirmed Palmieri had scored his third goal in five games.Perry got his second goal since Nov. 29 when his low shot deflected off Cody Fransons skate and through Berniers legs.He scored again in the second when Getzlaf hit him with an exceptional 100-foot backhand pass from the boards. The Leafs thought Perry was offside.One goes off my foot, one is a questionable offsides, one is an empty netter, and the other is a 5-on-3, Franson said. Its frustrating, and we cant let it get the best of us. Were going to give ourselves a lot more chances to win games than we were playing before.NOTES: David Booth went to the Leafs dressing room in the third period after checking Sami Vatanen and getting hit in the head by an inadvertent elbow. ... Torontos Daniel Winnik returned to Anaheim for the first time since the Ducks allowed him to leave as a free agent last summer. ... Carlyle had intended to attend the Ducks jersey retirement ceremony for Teemu Selanne last Sunday, but was prevented by a death in the family. Carlyle kept a home in Southern California while coaching the Leafs. ' ' '