England striker Peter Crouch is set to be unveiled as a Portsmouth player on Friday.

The Liverpool forward will have a medical at the club on Friday morning and providing that does not throw up any issues he will sign a contract and be presented to the media at Fratton Park in the afternoon.

Crouch has already agreed personal terms after Pompey and Liverpool agreed a deal which is believed to be in the region of £11million.

The 27-year-old will be joining Portsmouth for the second time, having played for the club in the 2001/02 season before joining Aston Villa.

He scored 19 goals in 39 matches in his first spell at Fratton Park and will now link up with England international Jermain Defoe as manager Harry Redknapp looks to improve on last year's FA Cup triumph and eighth-place finish in Barclays Premier League.

Redknapp will be counting on Crouch's European experience with Liverpool as he plans for the club's first UEFA Cup campaign, secured by that Wembley final victory over Cardiff.

The 6ft 7ins striker had limited first-team opportunities at Liverpool last season, mainly because of the scintillating form of record signing Fernando Torres, but he still managed to score 11 times.

In three years with Liverpool he scored 42 goals in 135 appearances.

Redknapp is looking forward to playing Crouch and Defoe together in what is likely to be his first-choice pairing.

"Crouchie is obviously a quality player, he will be a fantastic signing for us. He's a good lad as well, him and Jermain together can be exciting," he told The News.

With the impending arrival of Crouch, Redknapp now has Defoe, Kanu, David Nugent and on-loan Ben Sahar to select from for his front line.

However, despite speculation persisting about Nugent's future in particular, the Pompey boss intends to hang on to all of his forwards.

"I'm not looking for any more strikers now, that will be it for that position," he added.

"If Crouchie comes I will be very happy with what I've got. I've always said I wanted four or five strikers to choose from. Last year we didn't have that.

"I don't want any of them to leave now. I would like to keep Nuge (Nugent) if possible, you need all of them this season.

"If you are competing in the UEFA Cup as well there are a lot of matches, we need strength in depth and these players give that.

"It's up to Nuge now, I'm looking for him to push on. If he gets the opportunity it's up to him to take it. He needs to come good and show what he can do.

"The first year was a big step up for him but he knows what's expected now. He's got the ability to do it, no doubt about that."

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