Liverpool striker Peter Crouch has given the biggest hint yet that he will quit Anfield this summer to save his international career.
England boss Fabio Capello has made it perfectly clear to his players that he won't pick individuals who don't get regular match action for their clubs.
And with Crouch now an almost permanent fixture on the Liverpool bench, the signs are he'll need to move to remain involved in the international set-up.
The tall striker started Saturday's game with Arsenal, looking threatening and notching the opening goal of the game. But judging by his comments afterwards, it seems that performance was more an advert for the shop window than a challenge to coach Rafa BenÃtez to pick him for the forthcoming Champions League quarter-final rematch against the Gunners.
"It's pretty clear I probably won't start," he said. “Obviously if the manager plays one up front, he is more than likely to go with Fernando [Torres] - and rightly so, he's been fantastic this season. Before, when Rafa 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 would love to stay," continued Crouch when asked about his future. "It is a fantastic club and I love everything about it, but I have got to be realistic. 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 at the moment. I will have to look at it - but that's certainly something I won't be doing now, I will be doing it at the end of the season."
England boss Fabio Capello has made it perfectly clear to his players that he won't pick individuals who don't get regular match action for their clubs.
And with Crouch now an almost permanent fixture on the Liverpool bench, the signs are he'll need to move to remain involved in the international set-up.
The tall striker started Saturday's game with Arsenal, looking threatening and notching the opening goal of the game. But judging by his comments afterwards, it seems that performance was more an advert for the shop window than a challenge to coach Rafa BenÃtez to pick him for the forthcoming Champions League quarter-final rematch against the Gunners.
"It's pretty clear I probably won't start," he said. “Obviously if the manager plays one up front, he is more than likely to go with Fernando [Torres] - and rightly so, he's been fantastic this season. Before, when Rafa 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 would love to stay," continued Crouch when asked about his future. "It is a fantastic club and I love everything about it, but I have got to be realistic. 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 at the moment. I will have to look at it - but that's certainly something I won't be doing now, I will be doing it at the end of the season."
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