Ex-Stoke boss Macari advises club to keep Peter Crouch

Peter Crouch scored his first Premier League goal since May 2015 on New Year’s Eve, but ex-Stoke manager Lou Macari still believes the striker deserves a new contract.

Crouch, signed from Tottenham in 2011, has fallen down the pecking order at the Bet365 Stadium – with the likes of Bojan, Mame Diouf and Wilfried Bony ahead of him under boss Mark Hughes for much of the last two years.

But with Stoke struggling for goals, having scored 22 in 19 games, Hughes turned back to the 35-year-old over the festive period.

Crouch had expected to leave at the end of the season when his contract expires, but Hughes is still a big fan and Macari has urged the club to retain the former England striker.

Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images

“I can’t disagree with Mark Hughes if he is thinking of asking the club to offer the big guy a new contract before his current one expires at the end of the season,” he said.

“Good professionals, which Crouch obviously is, are worth their weight in gold.

“I’d go as far as to say that you could almost forget what they can and can’t do out on the pitch, they are worth their place for the influence they have in and around the dressing room.

“Half the teams that get into trouble and go down are full of terrible pros, guys who whinge at every opportunity and have no character to show when the going gets tough.

“In this day and age, with all the money swilling around and a 25-man squad to fill, there surely has to be room for someone like Crouch.”