PLAYER PROFILE

Peter Crouch

Position: Forward

Height: 6'6

Weight: 11st 11lbs

Date of Birth: 1981-01-30 Macclesfield, England

Peter Crouch

Peter Crouch, a strikingly tall 6ft 7in forward, began his career as a trainee at Tottenham, but was allowed to join Queens Park Rangers for £60,000 in 2000 and, after scoring 12 goals for them in his first season, Portsmouth bought him for £1.5m.

He scored 19 goals for Portsmouth before joining Aston Villa, and scored two in the seven games he played once he had reached the Premiership side.

Villa sealed the £4.5 million deal in March 2002 and Crouch earned his first England Under-21s cap in the same season, and played for them in the European Under 21s Championships.

During the 2002/03 season Crouch featured in 18 games for Villa but failed to get on the score sheet. The form of England international Darius Vassell, Colombian forward Juan Pablo Angel and Swedish international Marcus Allback restricted Crouch's appearances, and he was often used as a late target man, coming off the bench near the end of the game if Villa were struggling.

Graham Taylor sometimes rotated his strikers in a bid to make them score but Crouch faced an uphill struggle to establish himself in Villa's first team.

And so just a few weeks into the 2003/04 season, Crouch was loaned out to First Division Norwich for three months, to form a formidable strike partnership with Darren Huckerby. On his debut for the Canaries, Crouch pounced to score the opening goal in a 2-0 win over Burnley - his first goal since May 2002.

In December 2003, Crouch revealed he would like to stay with the East Anglian club on a permanent basis. The giant hitman enjoyed a successful spell with Nigel Worthington's team and has played a pivotal role in their push for promotion.

However, he was back at Villa Park that same month. He managed four goals for them six starts and 10 substitute appearances, before he realised a move away from Birmingham would be the only way to ensure regular first team action.

Crouch joined Southampton in a £2million deal during the summer transfer window in 2004. The striker signed a four-year deal, opting to return to the south coast, which proved to be a wise choice.

When Harry Redknapp joined the club as manager, he gave Crouch the chance to shine and was not let down, with the lanky striker scoring 16 goals and making his England debut at the end of the season.

However, he could not prevent the Saints from being relegated, and was sold to European champions Liverpool for £7m in July 2005. His first season at Anfield was one of real ups and downs, as while it took him until December to finally get on the scoresheet, he still ended up with eleven goals.

He also cemented his place in the England set-up, despite being booed during one appearance in the 2005/06 season. He finished it by scoring a hat-trick in a World Cup warm-up match against Jamaica and then got on the scoresheet against Trinidad and Tobago in the tournament itself. He also played a part in all of his country's games in Germany.

The 2006/07 season was one blighted with criticisms for Crouch and rumours that he would leave the club.

However, he had a hugely successful campaign on the pitch, scoring eighteen goals in 30 games. This was not to continue, however. With Benitez signing Andriy Voronin, Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel in the summer, Crouch spent much of the 2007/08 campaign on the bench.

In July 2008 he left Anfield to rejoin Portsmouth, linking up again with Harry Redknapp.