West Ham have stepped up their interest in Liverpool striker Andy Carroll by making a £15m-plus bid that would break the Hammer’s transfer record.
The offer would see England forward Carroll initially move on loan for a season with a commitment to buy the England striker next summer, which is not something that I see Liverpool going for as they have already dismissed a similar offer from Newcastle.
West Ham are understood to be prepared to build their team around Carroll, but with the player indicating an uncertaintly to move to there, despite a strong friendship with former Newcastle team-mate Kevin Nolan, it does little to clarify his future.
Jack Sullivan, son of David Sullivan, the West Ham co-owner, tweeted earlier today:
“Dad is working on the biggest signing in the history of the club – twice as big as anything the club have done before!”
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers appeared to have softened his feelings that Carroll had to go earlier this week saying:
“Andy is a terrific young player,” Rodgers said. “I had a brief chat with all the lads and over the next couple of weeks I’ll be able to speak to them with more confidence and on a one-to-one basis.
“There is no doubt he is a terrific talent. There has been a lot of unfair criticism aimed towards Andy. He is a player who can play in a number of styles and it was a wee bit unfair on him to say he couldn’t fit into the way I would want to play.
“We’ve got a number of very, very talented players in the group, of which Andy is one.”