Having spurned the opportunity to join Steve Bruce at Sunderland, Peter Crouch has become Harry Redknapps’s first big money signing at White Hart Lane this summer. Moving to Tottenham for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £10million.
Crouch is another to leave what is rapidly becoming a sinking ship as the exodus from Fratton Park continues. He will now join a few familiar faces at the club where his career began…
While not the most attractive fantasy option available, in many senses of the word, Crouch is a striker with a proven pedigree in the Premier League as well as holding a wealth of experience at international level with England. Crouch netted 10 goals last year for a respectable but not earth-shattering return – similar results would certainly seem just as likely this season. Should Crouch be able to form a partnership with Jermain Defoe once more, look for him to get a lions share of the assists with his awkward, angular ability to hold the ball and an arsenal of flicks and knock-downs.
Crouch comes in priced at £7.5million in the Fantasy Premier League game and £5.7million in the Telegraph game. It is equally as likely that we will see him priced in the middle bracket of strikers across the variety of fantasy games yet to open, making him one of the more than reasonable selections this year – especially now he is at a team who will be in amongst the fight for a European place next year.
With Roman Pavlyuchenko now looking out of favour having been signed under the Ramos regime only a year ago, and Darren Bent a target for many Premier League clubs, the aforementioned Sunderland for one, Crouch looks to set to get the regular 30+ starts he would have been asking for in the build up to a World Cup. One bone of contention however remains, and that comes in the form of recently re-signed Irish striker Robbie Keane.
Keane has never been able to form a solid pairing with Defoe in either of their spells at the club, one would imagine he and the diminutive forward will be jostling for playing time alongside Crouch – possibly upsetting a proven, and often fruitful partnership. Another possibility could even be the inclusion of all three players in the starting line-up. A few times last season Redknapp experimented with the possibility of Robbie Keane as more of a support striker/winger and could very well look to continue forward in this manner this season. I personally can’t see Redknapp looking beyond Crouch & Defoe, but with Keane now club captain it is hard to imagine him on the bench too frequently either. It’s another troublesome situation for us fantasy managers and one we have to monitor if we are to seriously consider those involved.
The good news is, we have time to consider our options and study form. Having the good fortune to not miss out on a match in Gameweek 2 like many clubs, Tottenham’s first handful of fixtures still won’t look all too pleasing to many fantasy managers out there. The safest course of action could be to use your fantasy millions elsewhere at the start of the season and see how Crouch beds into his new team while Spurs face off against some tough opposition. The situation does begin to look more appealing not long after, and a very appealing eight game spell starting at home to Burnley in Gameweek 7 could begin to turn a few managers heads.