Sam Allardyce, the Newcastle United manager, is weighing up
an audacious £10 million move for Peter Crouch, the Liverpool
forward. Twice thwarted in his attempts to sign Crouch while in
charge at Bolton Wanderers, Allardyce is hoping to strike it third
time lucky this summer, although any deal would be dependent on a
number of factors.
Rafael Benítez is willing to sell Crouch, but the Liverpool manager
will first want to satisfy himself that a suitable replacement can
be found, especially with Craig Bellamy nearing the exit door,
Robbie Fowler released and the pursuit of one world-class striker
proving difficult enough.
Benítez has struck a deal with Bayer Leverkusen for Andriy Voronin,
the Ukraine forward, but Samuel Etoo, the Barcelona striker, and
Carlos Tévez, of West Ham United, are looking increasingly
ambitious targets, while the manager is understood to have
reservations about whether Darren Bent is worth the £15 million fee
Charlton Athletic could command.
With Liverpool demanding £12 million for Bellamy, who is being
courted by Aston Villa, West Ham and Blackburn Rovers, Benítez
would probably want at least that much for Crouch, although
Allardyce wants first to establish whether Michael Owen and Obafemi
Martins wish to stay at St James Park.
Owen is attracting interest from Liverpool and Manchester United,
so in theory a swap deal involving Crouch would make sense, but the
situation is thought to be more complicated than that, especially
because Newcastle supporters would probably be lukewarm to the
idea. Crouch was also wanted by Glenn Roeder, Allardyces
predecessor. Whatever the decisions of Owen or Martins, they will
not prevent Allardyce from pressing ahead with his plans to sign
Mark Viduka, who is a free agent after his contract with
Middlesbrough expired.
Mohamed Sissoko will hold talks with Benítez this week about his
future. The Mali midfield player fell down the pecking order after
Javier Mascheranos arrival. Benítezs priority may be to find
players who will turn Liverpool into genuine title contenders, but
that has not prevented the Spaniard from planning for the future,
with Andras Simon and Krisztian Nemeth, two young strikers,
arriving on long-term contracts from MTK Hungaria. Simon is a year
younger than Nemeth, 18, who caught the eye during last years
Under-17 European Championship finals.
