‘It’s a cut-throat business’ – Peter Crouch opens up on how he was forced out of Spurs

Peter Crouch, who had a brief but successful spell at Tottenham, has now opened up on how he was pushed out of the club towards the end.

The striker joined Spurs from Portsmouth in the summer of 2009 and the team managed a top-four finish in his first season at the club, with Crouch playing an important role along the way.

He was also one of the standout players in the Champions League during the subsequent season as the Lilywhites made it all the way to the quarter-finals. The former England international built up a great partnership with Rafael van der Vaart during that time.

However, Crouch’s Spurs career came to a premature end at the end of that season as the club brought in Emmanuel Adebayor.

Peter Crouch has now revealed that he was forced out of the club once Adebayor was signed, due to those in charge believing there was no room for both of them.

Crouch scored 24 goals in his two full seasons at Spurs, while Adebayor went on to net 42 times in 113 games across the next four seasons for the Lilywhites (Wikipedia).

Speaking to Paddy Power (as relayed by talkSPORT), Crouch said: “I’ve been asked if players read about transfer rumours and worry about losing their place in the team. Well, the simple answer is yes.

“The manager would try to reassure you, but I remember going in to see the boss a few times and asking ‘are you signing him, or him?’ because of the speculation.

“On more than one occasion the reply would be ‘no’, but then come transfer deadline day I’d be sitting next to the person they told me they weren’t signing!

“I guess it’s all part of the game, you’ve got to try and keep the squad happy. And then when they sign their man, that’s it – you’re out.

“I always remember back at Tottenham how it ended for me there. Harry said ‘we’re signing Adebayor, and there’s no place for both of you’, so I had to move on.

“It’s a cut-throat business, both ways. When a player is doing really well they say there is no loyalty when they want to move on, but the club are often as quick to get rid.”

Spurs Web Opinion

When people lament that players have too much power these days, they often forget how clubs can be pretty ruthless when it comes to forcing players who are under contract to leave. I remember being extremely surprised when we sold Crouch but Harry probably felt he had to do it in order to take us to the next level.

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