Bournemouth striker Jermain Defoe admits regrets over the way he left West Ham.

Defoe was 20 when the Wes Ham side containing the likes of himself, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and Glen Johnson were relegated.

Less than 24 hours after the relegation was confirmed, Defoe handed in a transfer request on the advice of his agent.

He said: “The manner in which I left West Ham I would change. My agent at the time said I had to hand in a transfer request.

“When I was young I didn't really understand transfer requests, I had never come across one before and my agent told me it was the right thing to do.

“I trusted my agent and I thought this must be the process – hand in a transfer request and when you do that, you would be first out the door, that's what he said to me.

“At the time I looked at it and thought my agent must be right. He was saying all of those things to me, but even when he was saying these things to me I felt very uncomfortable.

“I went to the stadium on my own and I handed the transfer request to Paul Aldridge [the chief executive]. He even said to me 'Who has got you to do this?'

“I was gutted because he knew it had to come out at some point. He was really upset and said that he couldn't believe my agent had got me to do that."