Bruce had hoped to get a positive response from the 28-year-old Portsmouth frontman over the weekend after the pair met last Thursday to discuss a possible £12million move to Wearside.

However, the Black Cats' manager admitted that night that he faced competition, and with Fulham having made their interest known and Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp having gone public on his desire to sign the player, Sunderland face an anxious wait for news.

The feeling on the south coast is that Crouch would prefer a move to London, and reports over the weekend suggested his wage demands to move to the north-east could amount to £90,000 a week.

But as long as another club fails to strike a deal, the Wearsiders remain in the hunt, and Bruce is keeping his fingers crossed.

He told the Sunderland Echo: "We are happy to have agreed a fee with Portsmouth and happy that Peter came up to talk to us about the move.

"We have 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.

"In that sense, we are content that we have 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. 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."

Sunderland, who are also maintaining interests in Wigan midfielder Lee Cattermole and Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh, continued their preparations for the new season with a 1-0 victory over Portimonense in Portugal last night.

But they did so without defender Paul McShane, who damaged a knee in the 4-0 win at Darlington last Thursday.

The club confirmed yesterday that McShane needs surgery which will sideline him for 12 weeks and rule him out of the first two months of the new season at least.