Rafael Benitez is confident Peter Crouch will remain with Liverpool despite the England striker's admission that he may move on in the summer.
The club has offered the 27-year-old a new long-term contract but the striker has yet to sign and said today: "If I want to have any aspirations of playing for England, or furthering my career, then I have to be playing - and that doesn't seem to be the case at the moment."
Crouch opened the scoring against Arsenal on Saturday in a rare start at the Emirates Stadium. However, he is likely to be back on the Anfield bench for Tuesday night's second leg of their Champions League quarter-final with the Gunners, when leading scorer Fernando Torres will lead the attack again.
"I would love to stay, it is a fantastic club and I love everything about it, but I have got to be realistic," said the striker, who has started just seven league games this season. "I will have to look at it - but that's certainly something I won't be doing now, I will be doing it at the end of the season."
Benitez maintains, however, that Crouch is part of his plans at Anfield. Peter Crouch is a very good professional," he told Liverpool's official website. "That is the reason why we offered him a new contract.
"I have confidence he will sign. The player wants to. At the moment, we are playing with only one striker, but we can play with two. It is not a problem.
"I know he is happy here and that he wants to play. But that is football. We have offered the contract and we need to wait."
Crouch, who has 18 months remaining on his current contract, is thought to be a target of former England manager Sven Goran-Eriksson. Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra is likely to provide the Swede with funds to strengthen his squad during the summer transfer window.
