Peter Crouch admits he is pondering a Liverpool FC exit

Apr 7 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

PETER CROUCH admits he is contemplating leaving Liverpool after revealing he will consider his future in the summer.

Crouch, whose contract runs out at the end of next season, has been offered a new deal by the Anfield outfit.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is keen for the striker to commit his long-term future, having arrived from Southampton almost three years ago. Crouch made only his seventh league start of the season on Saturday, scoring for a much-changed Liverpool in the 1-1 draw at Arsenal.

The 27-year-old fears that a “disheartening” lack of first-team opportunities at Anfield could ultimately harm his international career.

And while insisting any decision over whether to sign the new deal will not be made until after the end of the season, Crouch has hinted his future lies elsewhere.

“I’d love to stay, it’s a fantastic club and I love everything about it,” said the forward. “But I’ve got to be realistic, and if I want to have any aspirations of playing for England, or furthering my career, then I have to be playing. And that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“But I’ll have to look at it at the end of the season. Now I’m concentrating on winning something for Liverpool and playing some part in the end of the season. We’ve got a Champions League run-in and it’s exciting for us, and all my efforts are focused on that.”

Crouch’s start was his first since the FA Cup defeat to Barnsley in February, after which the forward was restricted to just 54 minutes of playing time before the weekend. His 41st-minute strike gave Liverpool the lead and was the highlight of a man-of-the-match performance as Benitez’s fourth-placed side briefly opened up a six-point gap on Everton. Crouch said: “It was obviously nice to be out there first and foremost, I’ve not played very much recently.

“At a big club there’s always that pressure to perform when you play. I think even if you start every game, if you don’t perform, you know you’re going to be out. But for me, maybe more so, with the fact that I haven’t played that much this season, so, when I do, I have to make sure that I do well and do the business to try and stay in.

“The manager is going to have to need, use all his players, certainly before the end of the season. My dad said to me ‘You’ve got a big game in you before the end of the season’, and hopefully that was one today, and hopefully there’s more.”

Despite his goal, Crouch expects to be on the bench tomorrow night when Arsenal travel to Anfield for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.

“Even if I play well, there’s no guarantee I will start,” he said. “I mean it’s pretty clear I probably won’t start on Tuesday, to be honest.

“It can be disheartening but you have to keep going, I’m one of those players that will keep going, I keep working hard in training, and, if called upon then hopefully I’ll do what I did at Arsenal. If the manager plays one up front he’s more than likely to go with Fernando Torres, and rightly so, he’s been fantastic.

“When the manager was rotating at least I was getting a game here and there. But the manager’s obviously stuck with a formation now that seems to be working, and credit to the players that have been playing in that system.

“I’ll just have to obviously keep working hard and try and change his mind.”

Benitez has reassured Crouch he remains a major part of the Liverpool squad and is confident the player will pen the new deal.

“Peter Crouch is a very good professional,” said the Spaniard. “That is the reason why we offered him a new contract. I have confidence he will sign. The player wants to. At the moment, we are playing with only one striker, but we can play with two. It is not a problem. If you are in a team which wins trophies and you know you can be an important part of that squad.

“I know he is happy here and that he wants to play. But that is football. We have offered the contract and we need to wait.”