The England striker told The Sun: "The manager has said I can leave if I want - but I want to prove him wrong. I want to stay here.

"He called me into his office and told me.

"At first, I thought it was a joke. I thought he was going to say I would be starting against Arsenal in the Carling Cup, which was why he didn't give me a game against Reading at the weekend.

"But he just said 'You can leave if you want to'. Yet I have no intentions of leaving this club because I love it here.

"I would love to sign a new contract - and I know people at the top of the club want me to stay.

"But no one can expect me to sign a new deal if I can't get a game."

While Ramos is happy for Defoe to leave, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is desperate for the striker to stay.

Defoe also struggled to get into the starting line-up under Martin Jol.

And the £7 million signing from West Ham four years ago added: "All I want to do is play football. It would be great to play against Arsenal as it is such a big game."