STEVE BRUCE has made Peter Crouch, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Charles NâZogbia his top summer transfer targets. The Black Cats boss is resigned to losing young England midfielder Jordan Henderson to Liverpool, with only the fee still to be thrashed out between the clubs. Sunderland are holding out for £20m while the Reds are hoping to pay less but, whatever figure they settle on, Bruce will put it towards moves for Spurs frontmen Crouch and Pavlyuchenko and Wigan midfielder NâZogbia. The Henderson cash will not cover all three of those deals, but Bruce has not touched the bulk of the £24m Sunderland received in January for star striker Darren Bent and that money is also available. Bentâs departure â along with the return to Old Trafford of on-loan Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck and the long-term knee injury to Fraizer Campbell â means Bruce is looking to bring in three strikers over the summer, with Crouch and Pavlyuchenko at the top of his shopping list. Spurs are willing to offload both this summer as part of Harry Redknappâs clearout at White Hart Lane, but the hard part will be to convince the pair to move to the North East. England star Crouch turned down a move from Portsmouth to Sunderland two years ago in favour of joining Spurs, citing his reluctance at that stage to move so far north. Bruce is hoping the 30-year-oldâs stance has changed now. As for NâZogbia, he is a long-standing target for Bruce. Sunderland tried and failed to sign the former Newcastle man last summer, but the signs are that Wigan have accepted that the Frenchman will move on. Sunderland will face competition for NâZogbiaâs signature, however, with Liverpool reportedly interested, and the Latics would rather see their prize asset join a top-four club than one they hope to be competing with next season. Bruce is also keen to strengthen other areas of his side, and has made enquiries for Manchester United defender Wes Brown and midfielder Darron Gibson, along with Birmingham centre-back Roger Johnson. And he is also hoping to land three Bosman free transfers, including Coventry goalkeeper Keiren Westwood and Birmingham midfielder Seb Larsson.
And we will end up with none of these supposed targets. except Brown who is knackered, Gibson, purile, Larsson a maybe, as for the rest, dream on.
Peter Crouch, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Charles NâZogbia I'll take any bet that we dont get any of these 3. Oh we will put in bids to make it look like we are goin g for them in orde to placate and con us but they have no intention of going for this quality player and the signing of a bloke who Phil Bardsley has amost outscored FFS for £7m ****ing quid is evidence to this fact. Why would they want ot play for a club that sells its best young players for the first pitiful bid that comes along and then buys total ****ers for inflated prices. We will be bottom 10 all next season and none of the above are looking for that.
When the new season comes, the new boys will rip us new arseholes, Norwich especially, a bogey team for me personally, Bruce aint got the minerals, and he transmits that to his players, so dont expect great things, and dont expect Bruce to resign, because theres no integrity in a manager anymore, only compensation.
Agree all the way. The second two for sure & just watch Crouch find a way to fail the medical or if they take him anyway then break the contact for some unforeseen compassionate reason & return to London.
Bruce should have been chased instead of being given a new contract. Other targets include the likes of Johnson and Gardner from Brum. These two lads are probably the pick of their squad but we need to see some real quality brought in. He is still short of half a dozen players to replace loanees. God knows who he is going to be looking at if he thinks this ****er N'Gog is the answer. We might as well get Quinny down the physio's and send him on. It's completely deplorable. He is ruining this club despite the resources that he's been given. Zenden has also gone. My God it's hard to see how he could be doing a worse job. Selling our brightest young prospect and taking an over valued disaster in return. Bruce should be strung up from a lampost for this. I can't remember being so angry with one of our managers. Bruce takes the prize for stupidity.
WTF are we after Crouch for? Yes he can score the odd goal, but how would the old fella fit in with a team of youngsters? Another TAF IMO.
As I said before Crouch aint coming, anyway the bevvy is too strong for a lanky southern sofftie like him, pure lightweight.
half time entertainment, gyan african chicken dance v streaky piss daft dance. with abbey clancy in a bikini as ref....
Bit of negativity here, ain't there! Im not so negative, I agree that the "top transfer targets" arent top at all but if we get some of these as squad players that wouldnt be bad at all IMO.
Crouch is too slow, he will still be chugging along in midfield when the other strikers are in the penalty box. Apart from his lass, I do not think he has much going for him. I`d sign her though.
According to Arry on SSN, Crouch isn't going anywhere...... Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp is not looking to sell Peter Crouch this summer, despite speculation linking him with Sunderland. Black Cats manager Steve Bruce will hope to reinforce his squad with the £20million he is set to garner from Jordan Henderson's expected move to Liverpool. Bruce attempted to sign Crouch two summers ago from Portsmouth but the 30-year-old chose to join Spurs instead. The towering striker enjoyed a successful first season in north London but struggled slightly last term, with just four of his 11 goals coming in the Premier League. The poor form of Jermain Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko has also left Redknapp in no doubt that he needs a new striker, and Didier Drogba, Leandro Damiao and Mousa Dembele have all being linked with the club. That does not mean Crouch's days at White Hart Lane are numbered though, the Spurs boss insisted. "He is not one I'm looking to shift. We are looking to bring a striker in but he is not one of those that we are looking to sell if we can help it. " When asked whether Crouch would leave Tottenham this summer, Redknapp said: "I doubt it. Crouchy is a good player. I like him. "He is a great lad and I love him as a fella. "He is not one I'm looking to shift. We are looking to bring a striker in but he is not one of those that we are looking to sell if we can help it." Crouch himself made it clear earlier this week that he does not want to leave the club.
As stated in a post yesterday can somebody please tell me what this £7 million people keep referring to? Liverpool official site states N'gog available for £3 mil so not that. So where has this 7 mil been plucked from?
Hear the Ngog deal hasn't been finalised yet MLF you know any different mate? Also heard from a mate of mine down Manc land that all the talk is that Ngog would come to us but not with Bruce there. Not sure why can't remember SB doing anything or saying anything against Ngog.
