Pompey accept Spurs' Crouch offer

Portsmouth have accepted an offer from Tottenham for England striker Peter Crouch, says Pompey boss Paul Hart.

A reported £10m deal was agreed on Saturday after Spurs made a renewed effort to sign the 28-year-old.

Crouch is expected to sign a five-year deal with Spurs, where he will reunite with former Pompey boss Harry Redknapp.

"Given the severe financial restraints in place here we had no choice but to accept an offer from Spurs," Hart told the Sunday Mirror.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed to see Peter leave. (But) I think people need to realise that Pompey have been punching way above their weight and could no longer sustain the level of spending that has gone on here over the past three years.

"And even though a new owner is poised to come in, our dealings in the market will be modest in comparison to the past."

Crouch is expected to sign early next week and could even travel with the club to Beijing, where Spurs will compete in the Asia Cup alongside West Ham, Hull and Beijing Guoan.

Tottenham, with whom Crouch started his career, will be the third club at which the striker has played under Redknapp, after spells with the 62-year-old at Southampton and Portsmouth in the past.

"(Spurs chairman) Daniel (Levy) is talking to (Pompey chief executive) Peter Storrie and the pair are very good negotiators," said Redknapp.

"Portsmouth have a price they want but myself and Daniel have spoken and we have a price we think is fair. Hopefully a compromise will happen and we'll get something done."

The deal comes despite hints from Redknapp last week that it would be too expensive.

He said at the time: "I just feel that for that type of money it is an awful lot of money. It is an expensive deal because there is no return on it.

"I don't know whether it is possible for us to do that type of deal. It is an expensive deal. The whole package looks expensive."

However, Portsmouth reportedly agreed to drop their £12m asking price in order to do the deal after Crouch made it clear he wanted to return to Tottenham.

His arrival could hasten the departure of Darren Bent, with Sunderland reportedly keen to sign the 25-year-old.

Portsmouth, meanwhile, could yet offload more players this summer despite Sulaiman Al Fahim's takeover of the club nearing completion.

The property tycoon has been named Pompey chairman, but Hart does not expect a Manchester City-style spree.

"It's important everybody understands that we have to cut our cloth," Hart, who has been appointed on a permanent basis, told BBC Radio 5 Live. "The days of £20m buys are over in the short-term, but maybe not longer-term."

Tottenham have agreed a deal with Portsmouth to sign striker Peter Crouch for an undisclosed fee.

The 28-year-old, 6ft 7in England international scored 16 goals in all competitions for Pompey last season.

"He is different to almost anyone else in the league in terms of his size and the way he plays the game," said Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp.

A Portsmouth statement indicated that Crouch's sale was dictated by financial issues affecting the south-coast side.

Crouch returns to the club where he began his career as a trainee.

The fee is believed to be in the region of £10m and the contract reported to be for five years and worth £70,000 a week.

Crouch agreed personal terms and passed a medical on Monday, joining strikers Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko at White Hart Lane.

"We now have four top strikers which is what you need at every club and so I am delighted to have Crouchy," added Redknapp.

The surfeit of strikers leaves Darren Bent little option but to search for a move away from north London.

The England international has been a target of Sunderland - the team Crouch rejected a £12m move to last week - after indicating a desire to remain in the south.

But an improved offer is likely to sway Bent, who has not travelled to China as part of Tottenham's squad for the Barclays Asia Trophy, which starts on Wednesday.

"We now have four strikers as it looks like Darren Bent could move," stated Redknapp. "I believe he is close to doing a deal with Sunderland.

"With Crouch, Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko we have a good strikeforce."

Crouch scored 16 goals in all competitions for Portsmouth last season and, in a club statement, Pompey acknowledged the need to cash in on their star striker.

"His sale was necessitated by the club's commitment to repay scheduled debts while we are in a transitional period of completing the takeover," said a spokesman on the club's website.

Pompey announced on 21 July they have agreed in principle to a takeover by United Arab Emirates tycoon Sulaiman Al Fahim after the 32-year-old passed the Premier League's fit and proper person test.

The statement also revealed that Portsmouth will now look to "add fresh faces to the first-team squad as soon as possible".

Tottenham will be the third club at which Crouch has played under Redknapp following spells with the 62-year-old at Southampton and Portsmouth in the past.

He will also link up with his former Pompey strike partner Jermain Defoe, who returned to Spurs for £15m in January.

Crouch first left Spurs in July 2000 to join Queens Park Rangers before moving to Portsmouth for his first spell at Fratton Park in 2001.

He has subsequently played for Aston Villa, Norwich (on loan), Southampton and Liverpool before rejoining Portsmouth in July 2008.

Crouch has made 34 appearances for England, scoring 16 goals.