Peter Crouch

Peter Crouch

Peter James Crouch (born 30 January 1981) is an English footballer who plays for Premier League club Stoke City as a striker. He was capped 42 times by England national team from 2005 to 2010.

Crouch started his career as a trainee with Tottenham Hotspur. He failed to make an appearance for Spurs and after loan spells at Dulwich Hamlet and Swedish club IFK Hässleholm he joined Queens Park Rangers. QPR were relegated at the end of the 2000–01 season and Portsmouth stepped in and paid £1.5 million for Crouch. He had a good season at Fratton Park and after scoring 19 goals he joined Aston Villa in March 2002 for £5 million. He did not have a good spell at Villa and was loaned out to Norwich City in 2003 before making a move to Southampton where he re-gained his form and was signed by Liverpool in July 2005.

At Liverpool, Crouch enjoyed considerable success winning the FA Community Shield and FA Cup in 2006 and also gained a runner-up medal in the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final. After scoring 42 goals in three season at Anfield Portsmouth re-signed him for £11 million and he forged a decent partnership with Jermain Defoe. He spent just one season at Portsmouth and left for Tottenham Hotspur where he again linked up with Defoe and Harry Redknapp. He scored a vital goal for Tottenham against Manchester City which earned the club a place in the UEFA Champions League. He scored seven goals in ten European matches for Spurs in 2010–11 but his league form was not replicated and on 31 August 2011 he joined Stoke City for a club record fee of £10 million. In his first season with Stoke he scored 14 goals and won the club's player of the year award.