Sunderland boss Steve Bruce remains hopeful of signing Peter Crouch after having a £12m bid accepted. Bruce is aware he has competition, in Fulham and Tottenham, to sign the 28-year-old, but is optimistic about his prospects of convincing Crouch to head to the Stadium of Light.

"We're happy to have agreed a fee with Portsmouth and happy that Peter came up to talk to us about the move," Bruce told the Sunderland Echo.

"We've given it our best shot in trying to convince him that Sunderland and the north east is the right place for him; the right club at the right time.

"And in that sense, we're content that we've done our jobs. Now we can only leave it with him and let him decide.

"I'm convinced that moving to Sunderland would be a great move for him and he would be a great signing for us and I remain hopeful because I'm excited about what we could do with him.

"We won't push him for a decision because it's up to him to make his mind up when he's thought things over.

"But I would expect that we'll probably have some information on how things stand very soon. Something could easily happen in the next 24 hours."