HAVING decided that Peter Crouch of Southampton is out of their price range, Portsmouth may decide to make an offer for their local rivals’ other main forward, Kevin Phillips, instead. Harry Redknapp, the Southampton manager, wants to avoid selling Crouch if at all possible, but would be willing to part with Phillips, who was no longer an automatic selection towards the end of last season.

Alain Perrin, the Portsmouth manager, said last Friday that he wanted to sign two forwards, and that his preference would be for players with Premiership experience. Phillips, for his part, would like to stay in the top flight and has said more than once that he does not want to repeat the upheaval of moving his family that he experienced when moving to Southampton from Sunderland for £3.25 million in August 2003. That would make the switch to Fratton Park more attractive than a move to Celtic, despite the fact that they are managed by Gordon Strachan, who brought him to St Mary’s.

Perrin is understood to have offered a player exchange involving Ricardo Fuller but Redknapp is believed to have wanted another of his acquisitions, Diomansy Kamara, the Senegal forward, which was unacceptable to Portsmouth.

“Six or seven clubs want Kevin, but its still early days,” Jon Smith, Phillips’s agent, said. “I think there will probably be some movement with Kevin in the next two or three weeks.”

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