Andy Carroll will be lamenting this transfer until the day he dies, as his fortunes changed so drastically the moment he set foot in the helicopter that whisked him off to Melwood on the deadline day madness that was January 31st 2011. It was this extraordinary piece of business, conducted by a Liverpool board handed £50 million by Roman Abramovich in return for their talismanic Fernando Torres and tasked with replacing him with hours left on the clock. Whereas now, the public perception of Carroll is that he is an injury-plagued target-man with a woeful first choice, at Newcastle United he was seen as the clubs heir apparent to Alan Shearer. With the north-east club refusing to budge on their statement that their number nine was not for sale, it looked for all intents and purposes as though he would be staying on Tyneside, with bids from Spurs having been knocked back in the January transfer window.
''They can bid whatever they like. He is not for sale. I am going to say it one last time, he is not for sale. - Alan Pardew, January 2011.
What the former West Ham boss probably was doing by issuing that statement was unintentionally goading those with money to spare, eager to shove Pardews words right back down his throat. After all, every player has a price. Newcastle would then reject a huge £30 million bid from Liverpool on the final day of the transfer window - a decision that Mike Ashley would surely have rued for his remaining years, had Liverpool not returned with an improved offer of £35 million. Three years have passed now, and Carroll has since moved on, so its fair to pass judgement on the transfer, and call it for what it was - a huge miscalculation on Liverpools part. It was an act of sheer desperation as they frantically sought for the hottest young talent in the market. They didnt heed the fact that the 22 year old Geordie had only ever scored 14 top-flight goals in his career, or that he had but one international cap to his name. There was no thought for his off-field indiscretions, including several arrests, and a training ground altercation with team-mate Steven Taylor. There was no logic or reason to make him the eighth most expensive transfer of all time. It was transfers like this that raised questions regarding Kenny Dalglish ability in the transfer market.
Recent Journalism & New Media graduate. Insatiable thirst for all things football, and hopes to break into the field of sports journalism in the near future.
Have made a significantly insignificant playing career out of receiving several slaps around the head for not passing the ball.
