Have Liverpool ruined Andy Carroll’s career?

Andy Carroll’s valuation is an ongoing debate in the football world. It is discussed on television, radio and in turnstyle queues (maybe).

I know it might be a bit of a boring subject at this stage, but with the end of the season looming, and subsequently the end of Carroll’s loan, I was considering whether it is possible that Andy Carroll’s entire career has been spoilt at this early stage. He is only 24-years-old so probably has another decent ten playing years ahead of him. He is a top flight footballer and has five England caps to his name. But it is clear that his £35m move from Newcastle to Liverpool has hampered his chances of being fairly valued in the future.

To have a quick look at the figures, Liverpool originally offered £30m to Newcastle back in 2011 on transfer deadline day. Newcastle rejected this offer but later accepted a £35m bid to see Carroll go from Tyneside to Merseyside. Having failed to convince under Dalglish and then not being a part of Brendan Rodgers’ plans, he was loaned to West Ham in August 2012, with the option to buy. The problem? The fee to buy seems to be at least £17m. Ouch!

Unfortunately for Carroll this was always going to happen. If you spend £30m on someone, you’re not going to let them go for £10m, which Carroll would probably fetch in this market, especially if his England callups keep coming. At the time of buying Carroll, Liverpool were trying to make up for the loss of Fernando Torres to Chelsea. Torres was undoubtedly one of the best striking talents in the Premier League.

I mean no disrespect to Andy in saying that he was not on the level of Torres, but a good spell at Newcastle does not make you an international superstar overnight. By giving Liverpool £50m, Chelsea were letting them loose on the Premier League effectively saying to clubs “we can offer whatever we want for your top striker”.

So that’s what they did. They took a bright prospect from the North East for silly money. Now with a battle on our hands to buy Andy Carroll, what must this do to his confidence? By putting such a large valuation on young shoulders there is a massive expectation from the football world. Unless Carroll had set the Premier League alight at Liverpool, there would always be criticism, and surely the only way for Carroll is down.

He will have to really be something special to even match a £17m price tag, so it could well be a career of loan spells until his age depreciates his worth. But Andy Carroll’s playing style doesn’t always