• Peter Crouch is Sunderland's No1 attacking target• Steve Bruce ready to bid for England international
Tottenham Hotspur will demand Asamoah Gyan as part of any deal when Sunderland bid for Peter Crouch, who is their No1 attacking target this summer. Steve Bruce, the Sunderland manager, has money to spend after the £20m sale of the midfielder Jordan Henderson to Liverpool and he urgently needs reinforcements up front, where Gyan is his only fit, established striker. Bruce, who has Fraizer Campbell as a long-term cruciate knee ligament casualty, wants to sign three new strikers.
He would not want to lose Gyan, whom he signed from Rennes for £13m last summer, but the Ghanaian would relish the prospect of a move to Tottenham, as he prefers the idea of playing in London. Gyan is disappointed that his Ghanaian team-mates, Sulley Muntari and John Mensah, have left Sunderland to return to their parent clubs, Internazionale and Lyon respectively, following the end of their loan spells.
Bruce was unhappy that Crouch chose Tottenham over Sunderland in the summer of 2009 when he left Portsmouth – Sunderland had offered £12m to Tottenham's £9m – but he is over the snub and he is ready to try again for the England international.
Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham manager, considers Crouch as the striker that he would most like to keep from his existing quartet. He is ready to sell Robbie Keane, who has fallen out of favour, while he would also listen to offers for Roman Pavlyuchenko and Jermain Defoe. Pavlyuchenko's £70,000-a-week wage has proved a stumbling block to moving him on in the past.
Redknapp wants to create room for his priority signing, a high-quality centre-forward, and the latest name to be linked to the club is Adel Hernández, Palermo's 20-year-old Uruguay international. Tottenham have already seen an £11m bid rejected by Internacional for Leandro Damião, the 21-year-old Brazil striker, and they are expected to return with an improved offer.
"It's true that Tottenham have made a bid," said Hernández's agent Vincenzo D'Ippolito. "But for the time being, I know that Maurizio Zamparini [the Palermo president] has turned it down, although I do not know what the figure was. If indeed it was €10m [£8.9m, as reported in Italy] then it would be considered too low as the value of the player in the market is €20m. The transfer market has just started so we will see what happens."
Redknapp was asked whether Crouch would be leaving White Hart Lane this summer. "I doubt it," he said. "I like Crouchy. He is a good player for me and he is a great lad as well. I love him as a fella so he is really not one that I am looking to shift. We are looking to bring a striker in but he is not one of those that we want to sell if we can help it."
Redknapp went on to acknowledge that Sunderland were particularly flush at present, although it is understood that Bruce has not yet been granted access to the proceeds of Darren Bent's £18m sale to Aston Villa. "Henderson has gone to Liverpool so they have got some money to spend," Redknapp said. "Perhaps Niall [Quinn, the Sunderland chairman] or Brucie will be on the phone trying to buy one or two of ours."
Redknapp, meanwhile, feels that if Danny Rose is to become a "top-class Premier League player" it will be at left-back, where he filled in for the injured Benoît Assou-Ekotto at the end of the season, rather than further forward. Rose could get an opportunity in the position for England at the European Under-21 Championship in Denmark, following the withdrawal through injury of Arsenal's Kieran Gibbs.
"Danny wouldn't be a top-class Premier League player in any other position but left-back," Redknapp said. "He wouldn't be a top wide left player, he wouldn't be a top central midfield player but I've said to him for a year now that he could be a top, top left-back. That's his position. He has a low centre of gravity, he is quick, he is aggressive and he's got a great left foot. He is a real left-back in my opinion and it will be a big competition next year between him and Benoît."
He would not want to lose Gyan, whom he signed from Rennes for £13m last summer, but the Ghanaian would relish the prospect of a move to Tottenham, as he prefers the idea of playing in London. Gyan is disappointed that his Ghanaian team-mates, Sulley Muntari and John Mensah, have left Sunderland to return to their parent clubs, Internazionale and Lyon respectively, following the end of their loan spells.
Bruce was unhappy that Crouch chose Tottenham over Sunderland in the summer of 2009 when he left Portsmouth – Sunderland had offered £12m to Tottenham's £9m – but he is over the snub and he is ready to try again for the England international.
Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham manager, considers Crouch as the striker that he would most like to keep from his existing quartet. He is ready to sell Robbie Keane, who has fallen out of favour, while he would also listen to offers for Roman Pavlyuchenko and Jermain Defoe. Pavlyuchenko's £70,000-a-week wage has proved a stumbling block to moving him on in the past.
Redknapp wants to create room for his priority signing, a high-quality centre-forward, and the latest name to be linked to the club is Adel Hernández, Palermo's 20-year-old Uruguay international. Tottenham have already seen an £11m bid rejected by Internacional for Leandro Damião, the 21-year-old Brazil striker, and they are expected to return with an improved offer.
"It's true that Tottenham have made a bid," said Hernández's agent Vincenzo D'Ippolito. "But for the time being, I know that Maurizio Zamparini [the Palermo president] has turned it down, although I do not know what the figure was. If indeed it was €10m [£8.9m, as reported in Italy] then it would be considered too low as the value of the player in the market is €20m. The transfer market has just started so we will see what happens."
Redknapp was asked whether Crouch would be leaving White Hart Lane this summer. "I doubt it," he said. "I like Crouchy. He is a good player for me and he is a great lad as well. I love him as a fella so he is really not one that I am looking to shift. We are looking to bring a striker in but he is not one of those that we want to sell if we can help it."
Redknapp went on to acknowledge that Sunderland were particularly flush at present, although it is understood that Bruce has not yet been granted access to the proceeds of Darren Bent's £18m sale to Aston Villa. "Henderson has gone to Liverpool so they have got some money to spend," Redknapp said. "Perhaps Niall [Quinn, the Sunderland chairman] or Brucie will be on the phone trying to buy one or two of ours."
Redknapp, meanwhile, feels that if Danny Rose is to become a "top-class Premier League player" it will be at left-back, where he filled in for the injured Benoît Assou-Ekotto at the end of the season, rather than further forward. Rose could get an opportunity in the position for England at the European Under-21 Championship in Denmark, following the withdrawal through injury of Arsenal's Kieran Gibbs.
"Danny wouldn't be a top-class Premier League player in any other position but left-back," Redknapp said. "He wouldn't be a top wide left player, he wouldn't be a top central midfield player but I've said to him for a year now that he could be a top, top left-back. That's his position. He has a low centre of gravity, he is quick, he is aggressive and he's got a great left foot. He is a real left-back in my opinion and it will be a big competition next year between him and Benoît."
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