Man City to offer £8 million for Crouch (Mail)

City set to offer Crouch an £8m way out

Sven Goran Eriksson will be able to buy Peter Crouch for £8million in the January transfer window if he follows up his interest in the Liverpool and England striker.

The Manchester City manager has put Crouch on his list of possibles after learning that he is unhappy at his failure to secure a regular starting place this season and is ready to quit Anfield.

Eriksson needs a centre forward after losing Valeri Bojinov with a serious knee injury and believes 26-year-old Crouch is one of the most proficient strikers in the Premier League.

Crouch cost £7m when he moved to Anfield from Southampton two years ago and City feared that a price tag between £12m-£15m would put them out of the running, but it is understood Liverpool are prepared to take substantially less.

Crouch will only have 18 months left on his contract in January. He has made it clear he will not sign a new deal as long as coach Rafael Benitez prefers Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt and Andriy Voronin in his rotation policy.

This season Crouch has made just one League start and his only goal came in the second leg of the Champions League qualifier against Toulouse.

Crouch is aware of City's interest and has told friends he would relish the opportunity to join up with Eriksson, who gave him his England chance and took him to the World Cup Finals in Germany.

Eriksson believes that £8m would represent a good price for Crouch — a player he knows and trusts.

He said: "I've spoken to the people upstairs and the news at the moment is good. I'm told that I can operate in January, so that is good."

Despite their impressive start to the season, there is concern among City's coaching staff that the current team may not have enough goals and they are lacking a 20-goal per season striker.

They are relying on Emile Mpenza as a lone striker while Georgios Samaras seeks a return to form and Italian Rolando Bianchi tries to settle in England.

Bianchi was the big hope when he arrived in the summer but he has disappointed after scoring on his debut and there are some at City who are already wondering if he has the physical ability and appetite to prosper in the Premier League.

Eriksson has been told by owner Thaksin Shinawatra that he can go back with a £4m bid for Palermo midfielder Mark Bresciano — who he almost signed in August — and that he can have money for a centre forward.

The former Thai prime minister is not able to bankroll Eriksson to the extent that has been suggested by some and is certainly not able to spend money in the same lavish fashion that Roman Abramovich has at Chelsea.

Indeed, it was because Palermo wanted £4m in one up-front payment that the deal to sign Bresciano failed. England defender Micah Richards has vowed to sign a new contract at City, despite negotiations dragging on.

Richards, 19, said: "I'm in final talks and hopefully we'll have something signed very, very soon, it's just down to the finer details.

"It's certainly not the case that I want to move anywhere. I'm looking for a new house in Manchester, so why would I want to move anywhere now?

"I'm enjoying my football week in, week out and I'm playing for England, so what more could I want at the moment?"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=486951&in_page_id=1779


If the cheeky sod is stalling on a contract after we gave him his break then I think £8 million would be a fair price to let him leave.  That's half the money we need for Berbatov.

Especially as Rafa stood by him when he couldn't score for us at first.
I think that Crouch could still have a future at Anfield, if he took that chip of his shoulder.

Try and be cheeky and hold out for £10m, after all, City do have the cash !

Try and be cheeky and hold out for £10m, after all, City do have the cash !

Well of course - but I think the point here is that I see Crouch leaving in Jan as a very realistic option.  The whole England - European Championship Squad thing all over again.

Well of course - but I think the point here is that I see Crouch leaving in Jan as a very realistic option.  The whole England - European Championship Squad thing all over again.

What about the fact our attack is evolving from the days of Rafa's first season in charge and he felt the need for someone to come in who we could just lump the ball forward to at those tricky away games....? I think we've moved on from that lately in terms of playing the ball, hence Crouch spending more time on the bench. And it's ironic when on the few occasions he's played this season I can only think of the Reading game where we didn't revert to the long ball.

I'd take £8m for him. But I'd hope we would have someone lined up to fill that void of holding the ball up, having skill and most importantly being able to stick the ball in the net - without us reverting to a long ball game! Berbatov would be nice.

8m is a little less, surely we can get a bit more than that. Especially considering the speculative interests from so many clubs in the summer.  Anyway, we have the option of buying that little fella back.  I mean if we're willing to forgive!

Try and be cheeky and hold out for £10m, after all, City do have the cash !

I agree 10 milion+ is what we should be getting if we were to sell him. That hack Darren Bent went for 16 million and what's he done that's any better than what Crouchie has done for us?

I agree 10 milion+ is what we should be getting if we were to sell him. That hack Darren Bent went for 16 million and what's he done that's any better than what Crouchie has done for us?

G'day Aussie...
I agree with your comments...
but not too sure if we would get $16m for Crouch, Maybe the $10 - $12m would be enough,
def more than $8m though...

Hey Warrior, g'day bud....yeah 16million might be asking a bit too much...like you said 10-12 would be very nice for the Anfield coffers.

Yeah maybe 13 even. If players like Bent go for 16, why cant we push up the price?

Decent deal... but I wouldn't bring Owen back (damaged goods)... doubt Rafa would go for another Fower-like experiment that frankly failed.

For the record - Owen and Fowler are two living Anfield Legends.

i wud definantly sell crouch for 8 million + and apparently we have been linked with a move for brazilan international afonso alves who scored an incredible seven times for Dutch club Heerenveen on Sunday in their 9-0 victory over Eredivisie rivals Heracles Almelo. i think he wud be a great buy last season he went on to score 34 goals in 31 league games before being named Holland’s player of the year and has seven caps for Brazil,

As for the theme of this thread... if we do offload him,  anything between 10 and 12 million sounds like good business. Who we replace him with will definitely be interesting to see. If he goes, its been great, but the show goes on with out you mate...

I wud definantly sell crouch for 8 million + and apparently we have been linked with a move for brazilan international afonso alves who scored an incredible seven times for Dutch club Heerenveen on Sunday in their 9-0 victory over Eredivisie rivals Heracles Almelo. I think he wud be a great buy last season he went on to score 34 goals in 31 league games before being named Holland’s player of the year and has seven caps for Brazil,

Seems like you fancy this lad?
Seeing he his a Brazilian winger i take him to be pacey, skillfull and loves to score? Certainly sounds like what we need but how many wingers have we signed to be like that and failed.

I think Crouch is thinking that he is a bit of a star now, he is dont get me wrong but it was Rafa who made him that star. I'd take £12 million for him, Personally i wouldnt sell him but if hes refusing to sign a new contract we're better selling him now than losing him for free in 18 months time.

alves plays a centre forward position and i think he wud make a good partnership with torres

I agree 10 milion+ is what we should be getting if we were to sell him. That hack Darren Bent went for 16 million and what's he done that's any better than what Crouchie has done for us?

spot on. Bidding for Crouchy should start at 16mill as he has more caps then bent and a decent goal records at international level. For me tho id keep him I think he still has a lot to offer us

I agree that they should get more than £8m for crouch, unless they wanna straight swap for micah richards

It's clear to see that crouch has a chip on his shoulder.IMO crouch thinks that he should be playing with torres because he would score more goals and force his way into the england team.With him,26, now he probably feels that he needs a good season to start in the Euros and play decent as to play in the world cup in three years.He knows he's under severe pressure from the likes of Ashton and Heskey in that role for england.

So yes I think we should sell crouch(8-10m) in january and bring in someone more suited to play with torres, someone who could hold up the ball,flick the ball on,stick it away and most importantly have the pace to get behind defenders when torres flicks on.I feel this is key to get the best out of torres, as it free torres up to play between the RB/LB and central defender which I think is his prefered role.

As to who to buy the obvious one is berbatov, maybe anelka( i know it didn't work out before but he looks a happy chappy now) as for alves might be worth a shout , i see boro were interested in him to replace yakubu and is only 21 so plenty of time to develop into a top class pro.How bout kaka he only 25 

First of all, im quite happy that a club has taken interest in crouch as i believe he's done his time with us at Anfield, as his services are obviously no longer required at the club...And its only fair on him if he plays at a club where he will be a regular starter and have consistent game time.
However, i believe we can do a better price of 8 million pounds....

£8 million would be nice, but possibly a bit more (or a trade with micah richards )

I would sell him for £8 mill in Jan, he's starting to believe his own publicity and i don't think we need him anymore because i think Rafa is trying to get us to play a different style of football now, but i think we could still get £10 mill for him if we push for it.

Three words.

Sell sell sell.

I want to capture Ricardo Queresma!

I think 8m is too little for crouchie but doubt we'd get over 13m i'd settle for 11m. with that cash i'd personally like us to bring in dean ashton

Three words.

Sell sell sell.

I want to capture Ricardo Queresma!

Exactly my thoughts, but he costs £25mill at least

Push for £10 million and then settle for  £9 million.

Has anyone read Crouch's book thats just come out?

Im only a little way into it bu he seems a good lad who just wants play football - he is also funny as F**k

I wouldnt begrudge him wanting to leave for regular football but would be sorry to see him go, that said - I dont think he is a world class player and I would have simiilar feeling to him going as I did when Heskey left - nice bloke but he is someone elses problem now

Has anyone read Crouch's book thats just come out?

Im only a little way into it bu he seems a good lad who just wants play football - he is also funny as F**k

I wouldnt begrudge him wanting to leave for regular football but would be sorry to see him go, that said - I dont think he is a world class player and I would have simiilar feeling to him going as I did when Heskey left - nice bloke but he is someone elses problem now.

Sounds like a good read.

Anywhoo.

LFC.TV

RAFA: CROUCH IS NOT FOR SALE



Rafael Benitez has moved to end rumours surrounding the future of Peter Crouch by insisting: "He is not for sale."

Speculation has been rife that the Reds' striker will be heading for the Anfield exit door during the next transfer window after failing to establish himself as a first team regular this season.
 
But Benitez insists Crouch still has a big part to play at the club and isn't available for transfer.
 
"People have been talking about Peter Crouch for two months, but he is our player and we don’t want to sell him.
 
"He is a nice boy, a good professional, a good player. It is clear that this team now with four strikers creates more competition for places, but I don't have any problems because Crouch is a good player."
 
The Liverpool manager was also pleased to welcome Yossi Benayoun back to Melwood after the Israeli midfielder decided to return early from his country's training camp.
 
"He knows he needs to be training if he wants to be part of Saturday's team, so he was back training today," added Benitez.
 
"He was tired, but happy to be back."

Tell City to double their offer.......then we'll think about it!

Tell City to double their offer.......then we'll think about it!

Yeah, I'm wondering if that's part of the thinking behind it, but at the same time telling everyone 'this guy has a role to play for us'.

Agreed^^."He's not available for transfer.............. (ahem) for eight mill."

He is a s good as out of here. I wouldnt want to see that as a player, its a kiss of death! He is gone for 16 million in the summer im guessing.

Push for 11m and settle for 10m, try not to be greedy. Use the money and top up a few mil. to get another quality striker or winger.

Ok, I've said before that I don't know as much about the club as I'd like to, so I'm turning to you guys to inform me.  What are the reasons Crouch can't secure a starting spot?  Is it that he's just not playing good enough, or is it not meshing with the tactics on the pitch or what?

Ok, I've said before that I don't know as much about the club as I'd like to, so I'm turning to you guys to inform me.  What are the reasons Crouch can't secure a starting spot?  Is it that he's just not playing good enough, or is it not meshing with the tactics on the pitch or what?

Bit of both, I'd say. We now have other strikers who have improved the strike force, so from mainstay striker to bench warmer mostly for Peter. He has his uses, and in the event of injuries, we may yet see him more often, but things have significantly changed for him.

This business with refs picking on him is also a bit of a factor. Don't want to overstate the case, but it certainly doesn't help his chances of selection, and he doesn't always help matters by sometimes pleading innocent when he does foul opponents, as he did against Russia the other day after the most blatant shove. I don't like seeing that from anyone, but a Liverpool player! As EddieC said before, we expect a bit more class than that.

Could have been frustration. I do feel for the guy, and I'd like to see him turn it around, but success in football is less likely to be achieved through sentiment, so I think he will be gone by next season, but he may yet have an input in this one. We'll just have to see.

Like the guy, but if he wants to go then let him, and remember his good performances, like the hat-trick against Arsenal.

Looks like everybody is divided on Crouch, £8 millions seems cheap to me, after all he is an international player therefore you have to pay for this status, it's not me saying so, its the market...selling him for more then £12millions would be very difficult but around that price tag, it wouldn't be a bad move..

Clearly he wants to play and his commitment to the club is undeniable, the problem I think with Crouch is that when he plays it seems to limited the way we deal with the ball, we seems to loose that ability to pass the ball from the back to the forward without having to launch these long balls...On the plus side, he is a pain in the backside to mark for any defenders and in Europe he could be vital to have him as a joker..

If I was on the bench week in week out I'd want to leave as I'm sure you all would.  Rafa can't play him just to keep him happy, he has to be included for the right reasons. It seems Rafa has other ideas at present, right or wrong, he will stand or fall by his decisions. As for crouchie leaving, not for 8 mill, has to be closer to 12. Then we go in for Quaresma.

£8 million is a little low but I would certainly settle for £10m . hes not a bad player and seems a sound lad  , but I think his ego is getting a bit big and if he is not happy sitting on the bench for us then so be it , we will replace him.

The only logic in keeping him is because he offers another option on paper , by pumping it up when its a neccesity , but thats exactly why I would sell him because to be frank for such a big man , his heading is a joke and he prefers the ball to his feet and we have 3 better strikers than him who are capable of the same.

overall hes a decent player and he has serviced the club well but if he thinks he deserves better than to sit on the bench , which is fair enough , then he can leave to a smaller club

Sell him to Chelsea. 30 million in the bag. The way he plays makes the team drop in their performance. Sell him in January, 13-14 seems right.

Crouch must play v Besiktas... if he doesn't there is something wrong or he is def on his way in Jan...

Crouch must play v Besiktas... if he doesn't there is something wrong or he is def on his way in Jan...

I wouldn't be surprised at all if he was on his way in Jan. But then I wouldn't be surprised at all if he started with Torres against Besiktas.

Torres is out...Which means Crouch is almost a certainty to start against Besiktas....who will be his partner? Im hoping its Babel.

I don't think Babel and Torres wil work.

Yes you will all think up to Crouch to flick it on to Babel. Has that ever worked with Torres, Bellamy, Kuyt? No.

Babel plays one-twos, pass run, he is good on the floor. But at least if Crouch plays then Alonso should play so we don't get useless long ball by our defense.

If Torres is def out I would ask SG to play off Crouch up-front... Arbeloa and Fabio are also out apparently.

Team would be:

      PR

SF JC SH JAR

JP XA JM YB

    SG
        PC

Subs: Itadje, Hobbs, Lucas, Kuyt, Babel.

Does that make sense?

Hmm....no.
I'd rather play Benayoun as a second striker than Gerrard.

Hmm....no.
I'd rather play Benayoun as a second striker than Gerrard.

With Babel on wing? Maybe.... and SG in midfield instead of JM.

Yeah Benayoun is a specialist CAM. Stevie is a CM who can play anywhere. Babel has to be given a go at striker, its a shame he hasnt yet.