The Liverpool striker is back in the England camp this week, ahead of the return fixture with Macedonia, and is starting to feel at home with the more established players.

Boss McClaren said: “Crouchy is becoming a part of it. Maybe when he first came in he was a little bit uncomfortable but he’s certainly grown into it and through his performances and goals, he deserves to be in.

“Attitude is the key thing and I’m fortunate to work with a squad who have a great attitude to their work and a great intensity to their work.

“Crouchy epitomises that. So do Wayne Rooney and Owen Hargreaves. They all want to play for England. They enjoy meeting up.

“That’s a key part of playing football and it’s always been my philosophy. They’ve got to create that culture and think: ‘Great, it’s England next week, we’re joining up, we’ll enjoy the work, we want to improve as players’.”

McClaren admits it is hard to drop Crouch because of his recent goal record.

The big striker has been used sparingly by Liverpool since his heroics in England’s 1-0 win in Macedonia.

He has only played 204 minutes of football for his club in a month but proved he still has the goal-touch with a Champions League double against Galatasaray last week.

McClaren said: “Questions are being asked about him all the time and he keeps answering them. You can’t knock his record and, once again, he answered in the week.

“They’re not just goals, they’re terrific goals and I’ve seen him do that in training. He’s not just 6ft 7ins standing there. He’s got great touch, great feet, great awareness, he’s improving all the time and he’s scoring goals.”

McClaren insists there is no reason why Liverpool’s rotation policy should harm Crouch’s England form.

The manager said: “I know he’s fresh when he comes to us. As long as he plays and keeps his form then I’m delighted with that.

“You can’t knock his form or the way he’s playing at the moment. As long as he’s doing that and delivering, he’s very difficult to get out of the team.”