Soccer

Defoe looking forward to Crouch reunion

Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe is relishing the prospect of once again playing alongside Peter Crouch

Sat Aug 01 2009 - 01:00

Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe is relishing the prospect of once again playing alongside Peter Crouch. The pair previously partnered each other while at Portsmouth and have also taken that understanding onto the international stage with England.

Spurs coach Harry Redknapp signed Crouch from Pompey for £9million on Monday, meaning he will compete with Defoe, Robbie Keane and Roman Pavlyuchenko for a position in the forward line this season.

With Redknapp also keen to sign Real Madrid's Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and further increase competition in attack , Defoe knows that there are no guarantees he and Crouch will be the first choice pairing.

But the 26-year-old is confident that Crouch is a benefit to the club regardless of who will be in the starting 11 come the first game of the season.

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"Peter Crouch is a fantastic player," said Defoe. "If you put him in any squad he will definitely improve it.

"I am looking forward to playing with Crouchy because he is a world class forward and an England international.

"I am sure he will fit into the team."

Defoe was speaking in Hong Kong as Tottenham prepare for their fifth game in just over a week against South China tomorrow.

After losing to Celtic in the Wembley Cup last weekend, Spurs claimed the Barclays Asia Trophy yesterday with a 3-0 win over Hull in Beijing.

Redknapp has fond memories of Hong Kong having led Portsmouth to victory in the Asia Trophy there two years ago.

"I'm delighted to be back in Hong Kong," he said. "I'm sure that we will have a good crowd for the game and we will put on a good performance for everyone."

After fielding a strong side against Hull yesterday, Redknapp confirmed he will give the younger members of his squad the chance to impress tomorrow.

"We have some very good young players at Tottenham and I am going to give them the opportunity to play tomorrow," he added.

"We have John Bostock - a player with great ability - and we have Danny Rose and Jonathan Obika. who is very strong. So there are some good young players and they will get an opportunity to play.

"We will give them a chance and see how they do."