Former England international Peter Crouch has opened up on how his team-mates were shocked he had such a good touch for a player as tall as the striker was.
At 6 ft 7, Crouch became well-known for his unique look on the pitch, but over the years went on to forge a successful career for himself, scoring over 100 Premier League goals and representing his country 42 times at senior level.
“Because of what people thought of me, I had to be extra good on the ball,” Crouch says. “I’d walk onto a pitch and people would think, you know, just lump it up to him. So I prided myself on my touch and it was a constant battle every week to show how good I was: basically to stop them laughing at me over how I looked.”
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“People always say to me, ‘That must have got on your nerves’, although in a roundabout way, it’s a compliment,” he reasons.
“I worked so hard to get the touch I had, but it was amazing how constantly surprised people were. Even in training if I went to a new club, the players were all like, ‘Oh god, you’re better than I thought!’”
Crouch went on to score some incredible goals over his career, using the skills he’d honed as a youngster to pull out the spectacular, such as several overhead kicks as well as his stunning touch and volley from the edge of the box against Manchester City while a Stoke City player.
The forward went on to win the FA Cup with Liverpool and played in the 2007 Champions League final across what became a very successful career for the former forward.
More Peter Crouch stories
Peter Crouch has been speaking to FourFourTwo ahead of the new documentary, That Peter Crouch Film.
The cult striker has told FFT how he's similar to Jack Grealish, why he never felt pressure in an England shirt and about the time he was told off for leading Ledley King astray.
