If anything, Peter Crouch's popularity has only grown since he retired. 

While that's not to say the former England international wasn't a popular figure amongst supporters during his playing days (after all, his robot dance was mimicked in all manner of awful nightclub dancefloors) but, thanks to his sense of humour, Crouch is now one of the game's most loved voices on these shores. 

Never one to take himself too seriously despite an excellent career which saw him play for some of the biggest clubs in the country, Crouch is full of funny stories and has established himself as one of English football's greatest anecdotalists. 

One such tale came from a column the striker wrote in The Daily Mail back in 2018. 

Upon signing for Liverpool in 2005, Crouch revealed he was struck by a particularly attractive woman who was, as he thought, working at the hotel in which he was staying. 

Duly besotted, the £7m signing regaled his teammates with tales of her beauty when he started to train with Merseyside, with Jamie Carragher said to have taken a particular interest. 

The woman, it turns out, was Nagore Aranburu, the partner of Xabi Alonso

Married in 2009, Aranburu was actually doing some work on her language skills at the hotel in question when Crouch stayed there and had already been living in Liverpool for a year. 

"On signing for Liverpool, I stayed at the Hope Street Hotel," he wrote. 

"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.

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