By admin 
When Stoke City decided to buy Peter Crouch from Tottenham Hotspur before the beginning of the 2011–12 Premier League season, it created a stir and proved to be a wise business decision.
After finishing 13th in the previous season and earning their first-ever spot in European competition after making it all the way to the 2011 FA Cup final before losing to Manchester City, Tony Pulis’ team was starting their fourth season in the top division.
All of it meant that Stoke had started to establish themselves as a mainstay of the Premier League. They had some pulling power and could afford to take calculated chances in the transfer market, which is how they enticed Crouch to the Potteries on the eve of the summer 2011 transfer deadline.
Peter Crouch has joined Stoke City from Spurs.
At the time, Stoke created a stir when they signed Crouch for a club record £12 million from Tottenham Hotspur.
At the age of 30, Crouch had already experienced an incredible career, having netted 22 goals in his 42 England caps and establishing himself as one of the league’s most formidable and unforgettable strikers with clubs like Portsmouth and Liverpool.
Clive Peters and Jermain Defoe
Without a doubt, that was an excellent capture at that moment.
After completing his transfer to the Bet 365 Stadium, Crouch received high praise, and Tony Scholes, the chief executive of Stoke, described the deal as a declaration of purpose. “These fantastic deals are a statement of this football club’s intent,” Scholes remarked.
“The club has made incredible strides forward over the past five years and to attract players of this calibre shows our ambitions as we look to continue that progress this season and beyond that.”
“There has been a real buzz of excitement about where this club is going around the city since we reached the FA Cup final and then started our Europa League adventure,” Pulis continued.
Tony Pulis
“There is undoubtedly a big sense of expectation increased by these agreements.
“At the top level, Peter has a phenomenal goal scoring record. You may get an understanding of his background by looking at his incredible goals-per-game ratio for England and his seven goals in ten Champions League appearances for Tottenham last season.”
Peter Crouch’s tenure with Stoke City
After signing a one-year contract with Stoke, Crouch scored 14 goals in all competitions and amassed double digits in league goals in his debut season.
Stoke, Peter Crouch
The tone for the rest of his career in the Potteries was established by his first campaign there. With his aerial skills and link-up play, Crouch proved to be a constant menace to opposing defenders while leading the line for several years.
The towering striker gave Stoke’s attack a new dimension and an outball, although he never again scored 10 or more Premier League goals in a single season. This compensated for his continuous drop in goals scored in front of goal.
Stoke City’s Premier League statistics for Peter Crouch, sourced from Transfermarkt
In February 2017, he even became a member of the esteemed ‘100 club’ of the Premier League. The 36-year-old scored in a 1-1 draw against Everton at home to become the oldest player in Premier League history. At the time, he was only the 26th player to reach that milestone.
The ageless striker was still playing well into his thirties, so when he finally went on to join Burnley in January 2019 at the ripe old age of 38 in a swap deal involving Sam Vokes, it was a setback for Stoke.
Peter Crouch during a Stoke City match
Crouch only lasted a few months at Turf Moor before deciding to hang up his boots for good. Over the course of eight years, he scored 61 goals and provided 22 assists from 261 games for Stoke.
He was much admired after he left the professional game, having established himself as a beloved figure among his followers everywhere he went. That applied especially to his tenure at Stoke, when he helped to define the team’s character and turn them into one of the most iconic mid-table teams in Premier League history.