Crouch in talks with Sunderland
England striker Peter Crouch is locked in transfer talks with Sunderland after they agreed a £12m deal with Portsmouth, BBC Sport understands.
The 28-year-old is also a target for Fulham boss Roy Hodgson as he prepares to rake in £5m from the sale of Bobby Zamora to Hull City.
Fulham boss Hodgson may hold the trump card with Crouch reportedly keen to move to London.
Bruce said: "He is a player I have admired for a very long time."
The Black Cats' boss refused to be drawn further on the deal, saying: "We hope we can try to put something together because he would be the type of player of course that would signal our intention of the way we want to take the football club forward."
Asked directly if a fee had been agreed, Bruce said: "I don't understand that just yet, but I have just come off the training ground.
"I haven't been told anything to the contrary. I will be getting back to work in the next couple of hours and we'll see. I know discussions at high levels were going on late last night, so we'll see and I'll be able to tell you more in the next 24 hours."
Portsmouth executive chairman Peter Storrie was unhappy with Crouch's recent criticism of the club having not yet appointed a permanent manager to take over from Paul Hart.
Storrie insisted that was not possible while a proposed takeover by United Arab Emirates businessman Sulaiman Al Fahim was still under discussion.
Al Fahim has now completed the process of due diligence and is now trying to agree a figure with Pompey owner Sacha Gaydamak.
England striker Peter Crouch is locked in transfer talks with Sunderland after they agreed a £12m deal with Portsmouth, BBC Sport understands.
The 28-year-old is also a target for Fulham boss Roy Hodgson as he prepares to rake in £5m from the sale of Bobby Zamora to Hull City.
Fulham boss Hodgson may hold the trump card with Crouch reportedly keen to move to London.
Bruce said: "He is a player I have admired for a very long time."
The Black Cats' boss refused to be drawn further on the deal, saying: "We hope we can try to put something together because he would be the type of player of course that would signal our intention of the way we want to take the football club forward."
Asked directly if a fee had been agreed, Bruce said: "I don't understand that just yet, but I have just come off the training ground.
"I haven't been told anything to the contrary. I will be getting back to work in the next couple of hours and we'll see. I know discussions at high levels were going on late last night, so we'll see and I'll be able to tell you more in the next 24 hours."
Portsmouth executive chairman Peter Storrie was unhappy with Crouch's recent criticism of the club having not yet appointed a permanent manager to take over from Paul Hart.
Storrie insisted that was not possible while a proposed takeover by United Arab Emirates businessman Sulaiman Al Fahim was still under discussion.
Al Fahim has now completed the process of due diligence and is now trying to agree a figure with Pompey owner Sacha Gaydamak.
Funnily enough I read in this afternoon's Northampton Chronicle that Sunderland have been linked with Cobblers schemer Justin Sidebottom. 
Why is he a 'schemer' exactly? 
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