Peter Crouch – A Wise Man or a Fool?
One of the longest running transfer saga’s of the summer finally appears to be coming to an end after Harry Redknapp’s Portsmouth were finally given permission by Liverpool to begin transfer talks with lanky forward Peter Crouch.
Crouch had been indicating for some time that he may have to leave the club to search for the first team action that had so eluded him for the most part of last season and had threatened his place in the England team.
We know that Pompey are a good team with lofty aspirations, and that Harry Redknapp is an excellent manager famed at knocking together decent teams, but surely after tasting life in the Champions League you would sit tight and try and fight for your place in the team? And most people also agree that Liverpool are very close to perfecting a team that will be capable of challenging for the Premier League title.
It’s not as though the Anfield club are brimming with class forwards (and yes, we do think Crouch is a class player), with Kuyt and Vorinin the main players to contend with for a position alongside Torres. Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez loves to set out his stall in a very tactical manner, which is why Kuyt partnered Torres for much of the second half of last season. Vorinin proved to be a waste of space, which is just as well for Liverpool as he came on a free signing, Kuyt has been employed on the right wing as support for Torres and youngster Ryan Babel, although very talented, may need another season or two for his raw talent to mature.
As you can see, if Crouchy really knuckled down, there wouldn’t really be too much in the way of competition for him getting into the first team, if not regularly, then at least sharing the duty with Kuyt.
It seems he has made his mind up though and Portsmouth, after having an initial £9million bid knocked back by the Reds, finally reached an agreement with the club, rumoured to be in the region of £11million.
Peter Crouch moved to Liverpool back in the summer of 2005, just after Liverpool won the Champions League final in Istanbul and made a total of 135 appearances scoring 42 goals in the process. He has worked with Harry Redknapp before, both at Portsmouth and at Southampton.
I think that crouch has made a great move. At Pompey he will be getting first team action and he is joining a club that is on the up !
Crouch should have stayed at Portsmouth …he has just been thrown from club to club without any love from his managers.