Tottenham Striker Peter Crouch Set For £10.5 Million Switch To Aston Villa To Link Up With Record Signing Darren Bent

Peter Crouch is set to leave high-flying Tottenham Hotspur in a £10.5 million move to Aston Villa to forge a partnership with record signing Darren Bent, according to the Metro.

The move would see Crouch re-united with one of his former clubs, as he played under former Aston Villa manager Graham Taylor in a two-year spell at the club between 2002-2004.

The 6ft 7in striker has only managed one Premier League goal this season, but has usually paved the way for team-mates such as Rafael van der Vaart to get the goals and maintain Spurs' title bid.

Current Villa manager Gerard Houllier is said to be intrigued by the idea of a Crouch-Bent partnership which could potentially fire them up the table.

However, one potential issue could be whether the Midlands club could raise the £10.5m needed to secure Crouch as owner Randy Lerner has already given Houllier up to £30m to spend this month on Bent and Jean Makoun.

The departure of John Carew to Stoke City has left Aston Villa with four front line strikers, but Houllier is said to be looking to add another dimension to his attack and is hopeful the former-Liverpool man will switch London for Birmingham.

Aston Villa will hope to conduct this deal in a befitting manner after receiving much criticism from Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn and manager Steve Bruce over their handling of the transfer of Bent, who completed his £24.5m move to Villa on Tuesday.