Peter Crouch joins Harry Redknapp for a third time

Peter Crouch is expected to have a medical today to complete his move from Portsmouth to Tottenham Hotspur.

The fee is believed to be about £10 million and if the transfer is completed in time, the England forward has an outside chance of joining his new team-mates when they fly out for their pre-season tour to China today.

It is the fourth time that Crouch will have played under Redknapp. He managed the player at Southampton during his brief spell in charge there and paid £10 million to Liverpool to bring him to Portsmouth — the player’s second spell at Fratton Park — little more than a year ago. The South Coast club had agreed a £12 million fee with Sunderland earlier this summer but Crouch turned down the move.

His arrival at White Hart Lane — on a four-year contract — will raise eyebrows in certain quarters, but Redknapp left no doubt about his appreciation of the 6ft 7in forward after watching his team lose 2-0 against Celtic in the Wembley Cup yesterday.

Crouch has not been Tottenham’s first option, but he will cost about half the fee of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, whose £90,000-a-week wage demands have proved a stumbling block. Should the England international join, Redknapp would rekindle Crouch’s partnership with Jermain Defoe that was fashioned at Portsmouth a year ago.
Crouch has had six clubs and has now generated about £35 million in transfer fees since he first left Tottenham nine years ago.

“He is different because he can hold the ball up and we don’t do that well enough,” Redknapp said. “He gives me an option.”

Fulham had also been in the running, but Tottenham now hope the deal will be completed in time for Crouch to join Tottenham in China, where they play West Ham United on Wednesday and Hull City or Beijing Guoan in the Barclays Asia Trophy two days later.

Crouch’s arrival will signal the departure of Darren Bent, who could be on his way to Sunderland if a fee can be agreed. Tottenham’s £18 million valuation is about £6 million more than Sunderland have suggested. Bent, who was signed from Charlton Athletic for £16.5 million two years ago, is holding out for a better option such as Aston Villa. He has had little future at Tottenham since Redknapp joked that his wife could have scored with the kind of free header that the striker missed against Portsmouth in January.

Redknapp is awaiting Patrick Vieira’s decision after speaking to the France midfield player about a move. Vieira needs to agree a settlement with Inter Milan, where he has one year left on his contract. “It would be fantastic, but it probably won’t happen,” Redknapp said.

The need for another central defender appears more pressing in the absence of the injured trio of Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate and Michael Dawson. Pascal Chimbonda and Dorian Dervite showed their weaknesses in central defence against Celtic at Wembley yesterday. Both were ball-watching as an unmarked Chris Killen headed in Paul Caddis’s right-wing cross, and Georgios Samaras skipped past Dervite easily and fired past Heurelho Gomes as Chimbonda made no effort to come across.
“We’re short at the back,” Redknapp said. “I was disappointed that we gave away two terrible goals with poor defending.”

Source: Times Online