Crouch moves to Spurs

Peter Crouch has completed his move away from the south coast side Portsmouth, following his old manger Harry Redknapp to Tottenham Hotspurs. Although the full reports are still coming in the fee is believed to be around the £10-12 Million mark.

Its not a bad signing by Spurs, they do not have a player like him so he will defiantly add something different to the squad. It probably does mean that Huntelaar will not be heading to this North London club, Maybe the other one…

Finally this does leave poppy incredibly short up front: leaving just Nugent and Kanu. (poppy squad)

Portsmouth: 2008-09 Prediction

After last years finish of 8th, Pompy will be fighting for 5th place against Everton, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Spurs and Manchester City. After signing The Human Lamp-post (Crouch), Pompey look in good shape to start the new season. They will also feature in the UEFA Cup after winning the FA Cup last season.

Strengths:

• David James: England’s number one keeper is rated highly and rightly so. He can pull out a stop at any time giving Pompey both confidence and security.
• Niko Kranjcar: One of their best players. The free-kick specialist really gives the team width and provides excellent service for his strikers.
• The manager: Harry has built a good squad here and his wheeling-dealing antics gets them good players for cheap.

Weakness:

• Pedro Mendes: Losing him will be a blow but the money could be used to invest in a winger.

Our Predictions:

J-Lee: If they buy a couple of wingers (one starter and one back-up), I can see them causing an upset both in the Cup and League. However, I don’t this will happen as they won’t win the UEFA Cup but will certainly leave their mark. As for the League, 5th spot is in sight but they will probably agonisingly miss the target.

Transfers:

• Winger: We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again… they need a wide man!!

Links: Yahoo! Portsmouth Wikipedia Portsmouth

Crouch To Pompey!

Yes, that’s right… the walking lamppost is rejoining his former club for a fee of about £11m. I think Crouchy’s made a great move as he will get first team football (possibly providing a reason for an England call-up). However, the question must be asked of the manager. Harry Redknapp has sold Crouch twice – once at Portsmouth when Redknapp was Director of Football and the second time at Southampton so why has he bought back the skinny giant?

It’s hard to answer that question as we’ve seen so little of Peter Crouch recently but we know he’ll link up play with his good ball control and will probably partner former Tottenham striker Jermaine Defoe. That brings about another question: where does this leave Kanu? Well he is getting slightly old now but still has great ability as he does not rely on pace.

Crouch represented Liverpool a surprising 127 times in his three seasons at the club but is now overshadowed (not literally) by Fernando Torres who scored more in his first season at the club that Crouch did in the last two. Although I’m not a big fan, Dirk Kuyt has also made some impact on the team along with Andriy Voronin. But for Liverpool fans, lets hope that Gerrard is played off of Torres.

Let’s face it. Crouch isn’t worth £11m so Rafa has certainly struck a deal but will it come to haunt him? Will Crouch prove his worth to Pompey and England in the coming season?

Leave your thoughts!