6ft 7in Peter Crouch spent the beginning of the 04/05 season serving as a third-choice striker for relegation-battling Southampton. He would end the season with a summer move to the champions of Europe. For the former Aston Villa bench-warmer, it was a dream turnaround for the hit-man. While his 16 goals for the south-coast outfit proved to be in vain, as Harry Redknapps troops slipped into the second tier of English football, it was enough to grant a move to Rafa Benitez Liverpool a month after their heroic exploits in Istanbul.
''I am thrilled to be joining a club as prestigious and successful as Liverpool. Once I heard of their interest in me, it was hard not to think about what it would be like to pull on the famous red shirt and play in front of the Kop. - Peter Crouch, July 2005.
For the Reds support, however, it might have been seen as something of an underwhelming signing move in the transfer market. How many European champions sign a player of the calibre of Crouch - a capable but limited player - as their marquee signing in the wake of their cup win? While it did take the target man 19 games to notch his first goal for the Reds, he managed to notch 42 goals in 134 appearances for Liverpool.
Recent Journalism & New Media graduate. Insatiable thirst for all things football, and hopes to break into the field of sports journalism in the near future.
Have made a significantly insignificant playing career out of receiving several slaps around the head for not passing the ball.
