Crouch Confirmed Out, Breaking News Regarding Replacement

By: Andrew | July 27th, 2009

The club posted a statement on its website today, confirming that “Peter Crouch has joined Tottenham Hotspur for an undisclosed fee,” with the rationalization of his sale being part of an attempt to “repay scheduled debts.”

Crouch, perhaps the biggest name to leave the club this period, hinted at a move earlier this year with publicly made comments, saying

”There are 15 players out of contract at the end of the season – no one knows who the manager is, we don’t even know who the owner is to be honest. So anyone who is at the club wants reassurances about what is going to happen in the summer. And I’ll certainly be asking. I need to find out.”

He specifically referenced Tottenham when he mentioned his former sidekick Jermain Defoe and coach Harry Redknapp, who he will be reuniting with in North London:

“I’m really disappointed to be honest. We had Harry Redknapp, Jermain Defoe and Lassana Diarra were there, we were in Europe and there were ambitions for the club really going forward. Instead it has taken a backward step.”

I wonder if Defoe ever sold the car he left when he took off for Tottenham??

Crouch adds to a hefty list of players that have left the club this summer. His departure is going to spark an interesting debate about replacement candidates and game strategy. If Hart is going to keep running a 4-4-2 or 5-4-1, someone from the club is going to have to really step it up. Maybe Nugent was trying to make a statement with his 13-minute, 2nd half hat trick in the friendly match vs Eastleigh, scoring at the 75th, 80th, and 88th minute marks.

I hope we sign somebody though. Get ready for some serious Kalinic hype if he’s brought in over the next few days. He’s already being called “The Savior of Croation Football” and the next “Davor Suker.”

It looks like now we are going to finally start adding players to the roster. Coach Hart told a reporter “Over a period of the next week or two I am expecting maybe five or six players to come.” He made specific mention of Liverpool defender Steve Finnan and Nikola Kalinic.

However, just days before making the above comments, Coach Hart was quoted in on Australian Football Website, saying

I think people need to realise that Pompey have been punching above their weight and could no longer sustain the level of spending that has gone on here over the last three years.

And that