Peter Crouch has certainly enjoyed his footballing career.

Aged 37, the former England striker is currently winding down his career in the Championship at Stoke City.

Crouch played for six Premier League clubs and featured in the Champions League for both Liverpool and Tottenham.

He joined Liverpool for £7m from Southampton in 2005 but didn't get off to the best start - both on and off the pitch.

It took Crouch 20 games and over 24 hours to score his first Liverpool goal, netting a brace against Wigan on December 3.

Surrounding the release of his new autobiography, Crouch has shared an embarrassing story that happened away from the pitch after joining Liverpool.

He had lots of new teammates including legendary Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso, who had moved to Anfield one year earlier.

And Crouch swiftly met Alonso's partner, Nagore Aranburu.

"On signing for Liverpool I stayed at the Hope Street Hotel," wrote Crouch in his Daily Mail column.

"On reception was a girl so good-looking I couldn't quite believe she was smiling at me all the time.

"I told the lads in training. 'Honestly, she's beautiful. I think I've got a shout here.'

"Jamie Carragher called a few other senior players over. 'Tell them again, Crouchie.' So I did. 'She's all over me. I'm on fire.'

"Carra again, all interest. 'What does she look like?'

"'Amazing. Dark-haired. Spanish-looking. I'm in there.' It turned out she was Xabi Alonso's partner. She was doing a bit of work to practise her language skills.

"He was nice about it. So was she. Carra less so."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Aranburu elected to stay with Alonso and the couple married in 2009.

Crouch, who once suggested he would be a "virgin" if he wasn't a footballer, would later meet Abbey Clancy during his time at Liverpool.

They too got married in 2011.