Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Peter Crouch has admitted that Spurs manager Jose Mourinho phoned him as a joke amid Spurs' striker shortage.
Spurs head into tonight's huge Champions League last 16 encounter against RB Leipzig without Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son, the latter of whom is not expected to play again this season after suffering a fractured arm in Sunday's 3-2 victory over Aston Villa at Villa Park.
The blow of losing Son on top of already being without Kane has left Mourinho with a huge berth to fill, which is tonight going to be filled by Lucas Moura, who has played down the middle in the past.
But in his pre-match press conference yesterday, Mourinho joked that Crouch could be the answer to his striker troubles.
And Crouch has now admitted that following his pre-match press conference, Mourinho phoned him about getting his boots back on.
Revealing what had happened, Crouch told BT Sport: "After the press conference, yes he did call me. It was more of a joke, really, rather than asking for my services.
"But they are injury-hit, they are missing a few strikers and I didn't retire that long ago - I'm ready!"
Crouch's joke brought plenty of chuckles from fellow pundits Rio Ferdinand and Glenn Hoddle, who were alongside him in the BT Sport studio.
But host Gary Lineker responded with a joke of his own, saying to Crouch: "I don't want to disappoint you but he did call me first!"
