Peter Crouch retires from football

Peter Crouch has announced he is retiring from playing football.

After a lot of deliberation this summer I have decided to retire from football !
Our wonderful game has given me everything.
I’m so thankful to everyone who helped me get there and to help me stay there for so long. X

— Peter Crouch (@petercrouch) July 12, 2019

At the age of 38 and after over 21 years of playing professionally, the 6’8″ striker decided the time has come to hang up his boots. Obviously, Crouch feels his career has been everything  he had hoped it would be, and more. He scored a total of 108 goals (a record of 53 with his head) in 468 Premier League games during his stints with Aston Villa, Southampton, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Stoke City and Burnley. With Liverpool he won the 2006 FA Cup, and reached the 2007 Champions League final. He also scored 22 goals in 42 caps for England.

Writing in his Daily Mail column, Crouch said he had always found the prospect of retiring scary and hoped he would be playing until he turned 40. He will turn 39 in January, and though declaring himself 100% fit, he doesn’t want to be the player that gets introduced into games late on just to give his teammates a target to aim long passes at. He admitted finding it hard to accept that he had gone from a regular starter to that role.