Saints were this morning expected to unveil Peter Crouch as their 'big' summer signing.

The club were calling a press conference at St Mary's where the 6ft 7in former Pompey hitman was thought to be ready to confirm his move south from Aston Villa, with the fee rumoured to be around £2m.

Crouch becomes Paul Sturrock's fourth summer signing - after Jelle Van Damme, Mikael Nilsson and Trinidad youngster Kenwyn Jones - and will provide valuable competition for James Beattie in attack following last month's departure of Agustin Delgado.

If the fee is £2m, that will mean only five players have ever cost Saints more - Rory Delap, Kevin Phillips, Delgado, Jelle Van Damme and David Prutton.

Saints were eager to sign Crouch in time for him to join his new colleagues on next week's pre-season training trip to Austria.

But his move is seen as something of a gamble after the beanpole striker's tough time at Villa following an explosive start to his First Division career at QPR and Portsmouth.

Reaction to the news of Crouch's signing has been mixed after his patchy start to life in the Premiership.

Saints supporter Richard Ross, from Netley Abbey, said: "It is with absolute disbelief that I read of Saints being linked with a move for Peter Crouch."

Cecil Churcher, from Bishopstoke, added: "My reaction to reports of the possible signing of Crouch is one of incredulity."

But season ticket holder Alan Frank, from Winchester, said: "I don't think signing Peter Crouch would be a bad move - in fact, I was thinking last season that he would be the ideal player up front alongside Kevin Phillips.

"Phillips did so well alongside a similar player in Niall Quinn at Sunderland, and I'm sure Crouch could provide more opportunities for Phillips than James Beattie has done.

"But this all smacks of a deal being done for Beattie somewhere."

The 23-year-old Crouch hit ten goals in 42 games for QPR in his debut season in the Football League before Graham Rix paid £1.2m to take him to Fratton Park in the summer of 2001. It was there that Crouch established his reputation as a goal-scorer with 19 goals in 39 games helping to save Pompey from relegation.

An England Under-21 call came during that season and, just before transfer deadline day, Villa paid £5m for Crouch.

But the dream has turned sour for the former Tottenham trainee who has failed to make much of an impact on the first team, scoring six goals in just 20 starts and 17 sub appearances at Villa Park - a third of those goals coming in the 5-0 romp at Leicester last January.

Crouch's signing has immediately seen St Mary's fans fearing James Beattie's Saints career could be coming to an end.

Crouch will also become only the THIRD man in recent history to play for Pompey and then later switch to Saints - following the examples of midfielder Barry Horne and defender John Beresford.

Meanwhile, there have been further press reports in the north east linking James Beattie with a move to Newcastle.