Peter Crouch

Written by Tom Wakefield

England Player Profiles

Peter James Crouch, born 30 January 1981 in Macclesfield. Striker

Peter Crouch started his professional career as a trainee at Tottenham Hotspur and went on to sign a professional contract in 1998 , however he did not start a first team game for Spurs and after loan spells at Dulwich Hamlet and IFK Hassleholm Crouch signed for Queens Park rangers for £60,000. Crouch played 42 times for the Loftus Road club and scored 10 times.

After playing for just a season for The Hoops, Crouch was then signed for Portsmouth for £1.25 million. He started 37 times scoring 18 goals for Portsmouth, but soon after there was yet another move for the big man.

Aston Villa were the next club to take a fancy to Crouch, signing him for £5 million in 2002. Crouch was then given the chance for first team football at Norwich, spending 3 months on loan at Carrow Road in 2003 playing 15 games and scoring 4 goals. Also during the 2002-2003 season he made 6 appearances for England under 21s scoring one goal. Overall in his time at Villa Park he played 37 times scoring only six goals.

He then moved to Southampton in July 2004 from Aston Villa for £2.5 million. Playing 27 games scoring 12 goals. It was during his time at Saint Mary's that Crouch began to find a consistent level of form, and he soon began to attract interest again.

In 2005 Crouch signed for Liverpool in a £7 million move. Despite a slow start Crouch was popular at Anfield and in his 3 years on Merseyside, he made 85 appearances scoring a total of 22 goals.

But these goals were not enough to impress Rafael Benitez and July 2008 saw the return of Peter Crouch to Portsmouth in a £9 million move. He played 38 times and scored 11 goals, but due financial problems at Fratton Park, Crouch would be on the move again.

In July 2009 he moved to another former club in the shape of Tottenham for a fee rumoured to be around £10 million, where he has currently played 37 games and has scored 8 goals.

Crouch started his England senior team career in May 2005 under the management of Sven Goran Eriksson making his debut against Columbia during the tour of the United States.

His first goal came in a friendly against Uruguay on 1st March 2006, and his impressive displays saw him earn a place at the 2006 World Cup where he scored the opener in the win over Trinidad and Tobago.

Crouch played during the unsuccessful Euro 2008 qualifying campaign and has earned a total of 37 caps, scoring 20 goals. He will most probably be in the 2010 World Cup squad to go to South Africa.

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