The BIG Question: Should Liverpool Flog Andy Carroll Back To Newcastle For £10m?

Chris Wright

11th, January 2012

16 Comments

By Chris Wright

It’s already been well and truly scotched by his agent, but the heftiest kernel of transfer tripe this morning was a rumour appearing in the Times, The Sun and the Daily Mail that Newcastle were willing to stump up between £10-£15 million to bring Andy Carroll back to Byker Grove and that Liverpool may be tempted into cutting their loses on their £35 million lump.

On first glance, it’s the kind of spurious tittle-tattle that manifests on a daily basis in the footballing gossip columns, but the fact that The Times – who don’t usually indulge in such frivolity quite so readily – ran the story on their back page lends a shred of validity to the reports. On the other hand, it is a bit of a slow news day.

For the record, The Sun and Mail are claiming that Liverpool offered Carroll back to his former employers for £20 million, with Newcastle only willing to go as high as £10 million.

Liverpool have insisted that ‘no formal talks have taken place’ while Carroll’s agent, Mark Custis, has been quick to vow that there is ‘no truth’ in the rumours – though there appears to be a nagging doubt among the press circles that wheels may have been set in motion.

Carroll’s a handful, but he’s a headerer not a footerer

With two goal this season and just four in total for Liverpool since joining last January, it’s become quite obvious Carroll doesn’t fit the bill at Anfield. A big, hairy 6’3″ lummox of a battering ram that feasts on salvos slung into the penalty area is never a dainty, intricate link man going to make. There’s a reasonable argument that things may pick up once Steven Gerrard and his exemplary delivery make a full return to the first-string but who knows how long that’s going to last considering his twang-happy groins.

Carroll’s wages will also undoubtedly be a divisive issue. He quadrupled his weekly takings up to £80-odd grand after moving to Merseyside. There’s absolutely no chance Newcastle will be willing to match that kind of money given their recent cost-cutting jumble sale. It’s the kind of discrepancy that can and probably will shoot any transfer full of holes before it even begins to gather momentum.

Granted. There’s an overwhelming chance that it won’t come to anything, but if Liverpool really are ready to jettison their wares back from whence they came, I’d wager that they’d be wise to push it through sooner rather than later as – mirroring the situation 12 months ago – they’ll be faced with the unenviable task of finding an adequate replacement for their departing No. 9 before the sand in the Boggle timer of fate (or the ‘transfer window’ to give it it’s Latin name) run out.

What do you say folks? Could you blame Liverpool for flogging Carroll at a fraction of the purchase price? Can you see him slunking back to Toon with his ponytail between his legs?

Posted in Featured, Liverpool, Newcastle Utd, Transfers & Rumours

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16 Comments

  1. Col says:

    Gerrard’s back now so the supply to Andy’s poney-tailed dome is bound to be better. I wouldn’t risk letting Carroll go until the Summer considering Suarez’s little suspension. I doubt his perceived value would decrease anymore between now and the end of the season, so Liverpool might as well wait until there’s likely to be more potential replacements available.

  2. Fernando says:

    Probably hogwash. Even if feasible, I don’t think it’d be wise. Carroll will probably pick up eventually. A striker of his ‘type’ doesn’t expect to reach his peak years till 25, so he’s got time. And an obvious huge upside.

  3. Eric says:

    I would flog him for £1.

  4. Mr. Sparkle says:

    Knowing Liverpool’s financial geniuses they’ll sell him for a million. Newcastle would surely be happy with that.

  5. Chowens says:

    I don’t think he would fit in to Newcastles style of play now

  6. BallsDeep says:

    Keep Carroll. Sell Downing and Adam..both over-rated and flogging to the Championship. Carroll will come good.

  7. Gibby says:

    Can’t afford a £25 million loss. That’d be suicide. Probably not even paid the full 35 to Newcastle yet ! He doesn’t suit LFC’s style of play. He’s as slow as a week in the jail and doesn’t work anywhere near hard enough off the ball. Just wants balls placed on his dome. He might travel to the Euros, might get picked and have a good tournament then you sell him ! Should’ve burst the bank to get D Forlan to partner Suarez instead of Caroll. He’s so void of any creation and natural ability. Probably been picked up all through pro youth because he was always biggest in his age group.

  8. AT says:

    he did good at NUFC because there whole game was based on him, get the ball in the box, get the ball up top and if you do it enough he will do something ( i.e. score,assist,flick on etc)
    LFC don’t play like that, and the wingers haven’t put enough balls in the box for him.
    I would probably take him back to NUFC, could easily play with Ba, flicks on, onto him would be effective, but whenever AC plays, most teams are too tempted to go route one.

    P.S. apparently NUFC have a sell on clause of 25%, no idea what happens if NUFC are the team that’ wanting to buy him

  9. Ross says:

    @ AT….sure would be a decent bit of business if NUFC were to get him back for a knock down price and then in turn get a further 25% back of the mentioned knock down price ha

    As for Carroll…he played very well at NUFC as the team played to his, Bartons and Nolans strengths. Long ball up, knock down, Nolan in the back of the net. He is a decent player who will score goals giving a consistent run in the first team, with Suarez being out, why not give him a go?

    As a NUFC fan I don’t know how to feel about this (non) story, but without big Demba we could do with a goal scorer up top….all credit to Best and Shola, decent (enough) squad players but not top drawer.

  10. Charlie says:

    Since when did Steven Gerrard have “exemplary delivery”?

  11. Rob says:

    Probably not while their only other striker is banned for 8 games.
    Charlie, did you not watch Gerrard’s first game back? If Beckham had crossed the ball like he did we would be subject to non stop replays, which actually wouldn’t be so bad as that free kick against Greece back in 2001 is getting a little old.

  12. Jimmy Corkhill says:

    No. Don’t be stupid.

  13. Del says:

    No! Trade him for Demba Ba. Ba is prolly worth more than £10m at the moment.

  14. Newcassel says:

    Buy him back for 10M. Play him whilst Ba is away. Hell score a few and get picked for England at the Euros. Then sell him again before next season and make a few more million.

  15. neil says:

    Can’t be true. What about all those repeated reassurances from Kenny? “Give him time”. Give him his cards more like, cut Newcastle out and just sell him straight to Villa.

  16. Jezza says:

    I don’t think he’s all that bad, it just seems that whenever he decides to shoot Goalkeepers tend to pull off their best saves, its quite funny though watching him try his hardest then seeing the ball hit the post or the goalkeeper pull off a magnificent save. Makes me laugh he does

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