Newcastle United fans would have been interested in the news yesterday that West Ham striker and former Magpie Andy Carroll suffered a further injury, which left me breathing a sigh of relief that Alan Pardew didn’t bring the former Liverpool man back to Tyneside in the summer.
Newcastle were strongly linked with a move for Carroll at the end of last season, but it was West Ham who took the plunge and made his loan move to Upton Park permanent for a fee of £15 million, representing a £20m loss for Liverpool on the £35m they paid Newcastle for his services.
Carroll is on a £100,000-a-week salary for the East London club, but is still yet to play for West Ham this season as his chequered injury record is getting the better of him once more.
West Ham released this statement: “Although it is in the same part of his foot as his previous injury, it is a new injury. West Ham United can confirm Andy Carroll suffered an injury to his right foot during his return to full training. There will be no prognosis until he has seen a specialist.”
It hardly sounds positive and it looks like the England striker could be out for a significant amount of time having already missed one month of the 2013/14 Premier League season and a return to St James’ Park with the Hammers.
While I would have liked Newcastle to have brought Carroll back to the north-east, if he can’t stay fit and get out on the pitch then he’s no good to anyone sitting on the treatment table.
So, as it turns out, Newcastle dodged a bullet from Liverpool and have West Ham to thank for it; oh, and their inability to conduct any transfer business as well!
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