Peter Crouch Bio Send To Friend  

Much-travelled England international striker Peter Crouch completed his return to Tottenham in July 2009 signing from Portsmouth after the two clubs agreed a deal for around £9m.

The deal reunites Crouch with Harry Redknapp, his former manager at Portsmouth and Southampton, and takes him full circle back to White Hart Lane where he spent two years as a trainee before being released without playing a first-team game.

The hackneyed phrase 'good touch for a big man' has seldom been more applicable than in the case of Crouch, who despite his lanky 6' 7'' frame is at ease with the ball at his feet and is able to beat his marker with a feint and a trick, and is perfectly capable of a mazy dribble.

Surprisingly Crouch is not much of a threat aerially, somehow failing to turn his height to his advantage; much to frustration of those who label him as the classic 'big man' who wins the ball in the air before laying it off to the 'little man'.

Crouch began his career as a youth player with Tottenham Hotspur, but failed to make the grade and joined QPR at the age of 17. Ten league goals in the 2000-01 season was not enough to spare the Rs from the drop, but Portsmouth decided to keep him in the First Division at a cost of £1.5m.

If Crouch did well at QPR, he was twice as good at Fratton Park netting 18 league goals in only 37 starts - and that in a side that for much of the season looked destined to be in a relegation battle.

Graham Taylor liked the look of Crouch and in March 2002 the Aston Villa manager paid £5m to give the striker his first real shot at the top flight. He scored on his home debut against Newcastle United and would net twice in seven games.

He hardly featured for Villa in the 2002-03 season, proving to be an expensive Taylor misfit. He was loaned to Norwich City in early September 2003 - and the move revitalised his career.

At the end of the three-month loan he returned to Villa Park with renewed confidence - and would go on to net a brace against Leicester City, a late winner at Middlesbrough and the opener at Bolton. But Villa cashed in the striker in July 2004, selling him to Southampton after he had scored just six goals in 37 Premiership game.

However, the striker was only at Saints for a single, ill-fated season after being bought by the then Saints boss Harry Redknapp from Aston Villa in July 2004 for £2m.

Crouch then joined Liverpool for £7m in July 2005 after the Saints lost their battle against relegation from the Premier League, despite Crouch's impressive haul of 16 goals in 33 appearances in the 2004-05 season - form which earned him a senior England call-up.

A consummate professional in his time at Liverpool, the striker was a great servant for the Reds winning the FA Cup and Community Shield and earning FIFA World Club Championship and Champions League runners-up medals whilst at the club and bagging 49 goals in 98 appearances.

But he was not guaranteed first-team football and joined Redknapp at Portsmouth in July 2008 for £11m. Lasting just one, fairly unproductive season, when Redknapp (and Jermain Defoe) moved to White Hart Lane, Crouch decided to continue his career with them and joined Spurs in the summer for a fee of around £9m, where he was rewarded by a recall to the England squad again for the World Cup qualifier versus Croatia.