Sunderland have dropped their interest in signing Portsmouth striker Peter Crouch.

A club statement said they had an agreed a fee for the England international with Portsmouth and had negotiated personal terms but that Crouch wanted to stay in the south of England.

Fulham is in the south of England, so this could be good news. But then so’s Tottenham and you can imagine them emerging from the shadows to take Crouch back to the Lane.

Doubtless they’ll be more frenzied speculation to follow.