THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Peter Crouch signed for Tottenham on Monday to renew his strike partnership with Jermain Defoe and link up with manager Harry Redknapp from their time at Portsmouth.
Pompey had to sell the 28-year-old Crouch to meet debt repayments and allow a Middle Eastern businessman to complete his takeover of the Premier League club.
Spurs will pay a reported nine million pounds (C$16 million), three million pounds (C$5.3 million) less than Sunderland was offering until Crouch backed out of the deal because he didn’t want to move to the north east of England. The length of the Spurs deal wasn’t announced.
Unless Spurs can sell Darren Bent, Crouch’s arrival is likely to end the pursuit of Real Madrid striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Redknapp has previously said he could only afford to sign one of the two players.
The six-foot-seven Crouch was previously at Spurs but failed to make the first team and left in 2000. He has also played at Queens Park Rangers, Aston Villa, Norwich, Southampton and Liverpool.
Crouch scored 16 goals in his one season at Pompey — the same number he has scored for England since making his debut in 2005. By reuniting with the diminutive Defoe, the pair could boost their chances of playing key roles for England at the 2010 World Cup.
"Crouchy is a great player and he is someone who will score goals," Defoe said. "We play a bit differently away from home and I think bringing Crouchy in will help us. Sometimes you get difficult games and teams put you under pressure. You can’t play football and sometimes you have to go long and be more direct.
"If you look at Crouchy’s size and presence, he allows you to do that."
Crouch is the latest high-profile player to leave Pompey in the past 12 months, following Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid), Glen Johnson (Liverpool) and Defoe.
Sulaiman al-Fahim’s proposed takeover of Portsmouth was approved by the Premier League last week, but the United Arab Emirates businessman is still completing the buyout.
"We are sorry to see Peter go, both as a player and a person, and would like to thank him for playing a key role in keeping the club in the Premier League last season," Pompey said in a statement. "His sale was necessitated by the club’s commitment to repay scheduled debts while we are in the transitional period of completing the takeover.
"We will now be looking to add fresh faces to the first-team squad as soon as possible."
Tottenham is currently in Beijing to play in the Asia Trophy pre-season tournament.