The Stone The Builder Refuses: Crouch signs with Portsmouth to create partnership with Defoe

The summer transfer window has finally gotten into full swing. Weeks of media hyped speculation and rumours have all of a sudden been replaced with factual evidence of players moving to new clubs. Former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch has decided to return to his old team Portsmouth to help form a goal scoring partnership with Jermaine Defoe. This partnership is an interesting one because both players have one major thing in common. They both have no problem finding the net, but remained overlooked by their former clubs and were both forced to sit unhappily on the bench. There move to Portsmouth has granted them the opportunity to literally shove goals into their former clubs faces and become regular placements in Capello's English squad. The two players already have an history of playing well together. According to statistics provided by Sky Sports, they haved appeared together 7 times and have netted 10 goals. Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp and England manager Fabio Capello will be hoping that these two can continue develop their partnership infront of goal so they can be utilized for both their club and country.

Physically the two could hardly be any different. Defoe a short player just reaching 5ft 7 inches while Crouch towers at 6ft 7 inches. Both players have a knack for using their feet to score amazing goals. Crouch despite his height however is not known for his aerial capabilities, while Jermaine has scored a few goals using his head. Defoe moved to Portsmouth on a loan turned permanent deal from Tottenham during last season's January transfer window and Portsmouth soon began to see returns for their investment. He made just 11 appearances and scored 7 goals. He score in almost all his first games for the team. Redknapp his hoping that Crouch have a similar start to his return to Portsmouth. The last time he donned the Portsmouth blue and gold he made 37 appearances and scored 18 goals. At that time Portsmouth did not have the calibre of players in its roster that it has now. With midfield service from players like Diarra and Kranjcar we can expect him to surpass his old goal scoring tally. This partnership should be very interesting to watch come next season and beyond.