Unsettled Crouch considering future

PETER CROUCH will consider his future at Liverpool in the summer after admitting that he is finding his lack of opportunities at Anfield “disheartening”.

The England forward has been elbowed out of first team contention this season by the excellent form of Fernando Torres and Rafael Benitez’s decision to play with a lone forward.

Crouch made the most of a rare opportunity at Arsenal on Saturday, scoring his side’s goal and delivering a lively performance, but he expects to be back among the substitutes for tomorrow’s Champions League quarter-final with the Gunners.

Under FIFA law, Crouch, 27, is able to buy out the remaining 12 months of his current deal this summer. That scenario appears increasingly likely, given there would be no shortage of suitors for his signature.

“I will have to look at it (my future),” he said. “I would love to stay at Liverpool but I have to be realistic: if I want to play regularly for England and further my career in general then I have to be playing regularly. That’s not the case at the moment and it can be disheartening.

“I was happy with how I did against Arsenal but I don’t expect to start on Tuesday. The manager plays one up front and if that’s the case then I’m sure he’ll go with Fernando, and rightly so because he has been fantastic this season.”

Benitez will restore his A-list talent for tomorrow’s final instalment of the Liverpool-Arsenal trilogy, but Arsene Wenger will once again have to mix and match. The Frenchman confirmed that Robin van Persie will again be absent with a thigh muscle injury, while Bacary Sagna (ankle) is also ruled out, although he has an outside chance of featuring at Manchester United on Sunday.