OPINION
Newcastle United should wait until the transfer shuts before making a swoop to sign Andy Carroll as he reportedly won’t be back to full fitness for a few months.
According to the Daily Mail, Steve Bruce wants to snap up the 30-year-old free agent and is monitoring his fitness as he recovers from an ankle injury that saw his spell at West Ham end prematurely.
Manuel Pellegrini decided against offering Carroll a new contract at the end of last season although he is still using the facilities at West Ham’s Rush Green training ground to help aid his recovery.
Newcastle are short of options up front as it stands with Joelinton yet to sign from Hoffenheim, leaving Dwight Gayle, Yoshinori Muto and youngster Elias Sorensen as Bruce’s only strikers in his newly-inherited squad.
It would be too soon to swoop in and sign Carroll now as he’s still injury so due to the fact that the ex-Liverpool striker is currently a free agent, the Magpies should wait until the transfer window has shut before they sign him as they’ll have a better idea of his fitness in September or even October.
Carroll has been plagued by injuries in his career so it would make more sense to do business with the target man once he is closer to recovery than it would before the transfer window closes early next month.
The 30-year-old made just 14 appearances in all competitions for West Ham last season as he struggled with separate ankle injuries.
He only started twice in the Premier League too due to Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez being above him in the pecking order.
However that shouldn’t stop Bruce from trying to sign Carroll because he is an absolute nightmare to deal with for defenders and once he is able to find his stride – as long as he stays fit – he can also hit the back of the net on a regular basis.
According to stats by WhoScored, Carroll won 9.1 aerial duels per 90 minutes of Premier League action last season. Burnley’s Sam Vokes and Huddersfield’s Steve Mounie were the only strikers who bettered that average.
Carroll also fired 2.8 shots at goal per 90 minutes in the league, with 1.6 of them coming from his head.
Salomon Rondon was good in the air for Newcastle last season, but he couldn’t come close to the Geordie’s aerial prowess in his few appearances for West Ham last season.
Newcastle shouldn’t stop signing strikers and hold out for Carroll, but they should definitely keep an eye on the former West Ham striker and pounce to sign him closer to his return date.
It could be a top piece of business by Bruce if he is able to do that.
