• Tottenham striker Peter Crouch succumbs to a back injury
• Phil Jagielka remains doubtful after sitting out training

Peter Crouch has withdrawn from the England squad for the Euro 2012 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland due to a back injury, the Football Association have confirmed.

There have been concerns throughout the week over the Tottenham striker’s fitness to take part in either of the matches, to be played on Friday and Tuesday respectively. Crouch’s club manager Harry Redknapp rated his chances as doubtful when he joined up with the England squad on Tuesday after the 29-year-old left the pitch with a rib injury in the second half of Tottenham’s home defeat to Wigan at the weekend.

The England manager Fabio Capello took the precaution of naming an additional striker in his 24-man squad, so when it was confirmed this afternoon that Crouch had returned to Spurs for treatment, there was no requirement for a replacement to be drafted in.

Bobby Zamora was ruled out prior to the squad being announced, leaving Capello to choose from Wayne Rooney, Carlton Cole, Darren Bent and Jermain Defoe, who has recovered from a groin complaint, amongst his striking options.

The FA opted not to make any further injury announcements and with only one goalkeeper, Joe Hart, being fit to train yesterday, the absence of any further disruptions to England’s preparations will be welcome. There is cover for Phil Jagielka, who also sat out training yesterday with an ankle problem which David Moyes revealed made him an extreme doubt following Everton’s defeat at Aston Villa on Sunday.

EnglandEuro 2012Tottenham HotspurFabio CapelloBulgariaguardian.co.uk

• Player available after £18m move to Bayern fell through
• Spurs are offering £8m for the Holland midfielder

Tottenham Hotspur hope to discover tomorrow morning if a dramatic last-minute bid to buy the Holland midfielder Rafael van der Vaart from Real Madrid in an £8m deal will be approved by the Premier League.

Harry Redknapp, the Spurs manager, was unable to confirm if the requisite paperwork had reached Gloucester Place before the 6pm deadline. The Guardian understands that a late deluge of documentation for various deals arrived right on the time limit and officials are still working to establish if the Van der Vaart deal made it in time.

“We’re waiting to see if it’s all gone through and hopefully it has,” Redknapp said. “We’re just waiting for some clearance. The chairman [Daniel Levy] and the secretary are dealing with it so I’ve left it to them. There’s more nothing [more] I can do. I’m going to head off home now.”

After a relatively quiet transfer deadline day in which little business was done among the bigger clubs, Redknapp’s attempt, if successful, would represent a coup for Spurs. He explained why the bid had come so late in the day.

“I thought he was going to Bayern Munich yesterday for about £18m and suddenly he become an awful lot cheaper and the chairman came to me and said, ‘Look, he’s available for around about £8m’.

“I felt we’d already got a good squad, it wasn’t a case of really being desperate to get anyone in. It was only when he rung me around at about four o’clock and told me there was an opportunity here and did I want to do something? I said, ‘I don’t really want to spend your money but if you feel you want to have a go then, well, let’s push on and give it a crack and see if we can pull it off.”

Redknapp, whose Spurs team are in the Champions League group stages, is in no doubt that the 27-year-old would add depth to his squad.

“He’s a quality player, a Dutch international, a great footballer. For that sort of money we felt he was a top player and he’ll improve us, for sure, so we made the effort but whether we can pull it off or not I’m not sure now. It could happen; I wouldn’t like to say one way or another but we are hopeful it’ll go through. It was a last-minute job.

“When I came in this morning it wasn’t something we were looking to do. We’d brought a couple in: I got William Gallas and Sandro joined us this morning – he came training for the first time with us today so I wasn’t too concerned.”

Should the Van der Vaart move gain Premier League approval, the midfielder would become Redknapp’s second deadline-day signing after Spurs earlier sealed a loan deal for the Croatia goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa from Spartak Moscow.

The 31-year-old, who has won 80 caps for his country and has played in two World Cups and one European Championship, was close to joining Tottenham last summer before an injury scuppered the transfer. However, he won a move this time after impressing during a trial.

Elsewhere, Robinho finally ended his turbulent spell at Manchester City by finalising a £18m move to Milan while the Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan signed for Sunderland from Rennes for a club record fee of £13m.

Tottenham HotspurTransfer windowReal MadridJamie Jacksonguardian.co.uk