In a sign of how desperate Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool are to get rid of Andy Carroll, last night they accepted an offer from West Ham United of £2 million to take Carroll on loan for the coming season and then £17 million to make his move permanent in 12 months’ time, providing West Ham avoid relegation.
But several UK media sites are reporting that Andy Carroll in not interested in moving to London, and that he only will agree to a move back to Tyneside and Newcastle United.
So far Newcastle’s offer of £13m for the England striker has been turned down by Liverpool, but now that they know the type of deal that Liverpool accepted from West Ham, I expect Toon boss Alan Pardew to come back with a slightly higher offer.
Besides Carroll wanting to return to Newcastle, Pardew has a couple of other factors working in his favour. One is that Liverpool have not yet paid Newcastle the final instalments of Carroll’s £35 million transfer fee. If Liverpool sell Carroll back to Newcastle, the transfer fee would include both clubs wiping out that outstanding money.
The second factor in Newcastle’s favour, is that it is coming out that Newcastle are entitled to a cut of any transfer fee involving Carroll, as a 25% sell-on clause was included in the original deal.
So the combination of monies owned to Newcastle plus a 25% sell-on clause, it makes financial sense for Liverpool to sell Carroll to Newcastle. Newcastle don’t need to beat West Ham’s offer that is on the table, just get close to it.
I am a little surprised that Rodgers and Liverpool have given up on Carroll so quickly. At the end of last season he was playing well, and I thought he looked good at the Euros. People forget that Carroll is still only 23-years-old and he has played less than 100 games in the Premier League. He will get better. Will Liverpool regret selling Carroll in a couple of years or is it time to move on for player and club?
