How much would you pay to bring Andy Carroll back to St.James’ Park?

Words by Kevin Doocey on


Andy Carroll in action for Newcastle United against Aston Villa

Carroll - What price would you pay to bring the Geordie back to Tyneside?

First of all, it’s not happening. Andy Carroll will not return to Newcastle United this January or even in the summer. Lazy journalism seems to have spurred on continuous rumours of a return for the £35m man; either on loan or permanently. I’m sure Andy himself would indeed welcome a move back to Tyneside in order to refind the form that saw the 6ft 2 striker become one of the most sought after English forwards of his decade. However, Liverpool wouldn’t allow it nor would a lot of Newcastle United supporters approve of a return of Andy. He left the club perhaps when we needed him most and a lot of supporters label him as a traitor. I wouldn’t go that far, because in hindsight, Newcastle United may well have made one of the best deals they’ll ever make.

We don’t miss Carroll up front, and the football we play now wouldn’t suit the big man anyway (our tactics away to Liverpool last week aside). Demba Ba signed on a free transfer after leaving West Ham and has notched 14 goals in the Premier League so far - more than Carroll had accumulated at this stage of the season last year, and you must remember that this is Demba’s first real season in the Premier League.

The buy of the season so far without doubt.

With all that said - the rumours will remain of Andy’s ‘imminent’ return to Newcastle United. Some supporters would welcome him back - to those who would: how much would you pay to resign the Gateshead born lad?

I can only imagine that his real value in todays market would be in the region of £10m, some might argue that he was only ever worth that before he joined Liverpool. The thing about it is, Newcastle United held all the aces. We knew Liverpool had a large chunk of money after selling Fernando Torres to Chelsea and also knew that Liverpool were desperate to land a replacement for the Spaniard.

People must remember however - as well documented as it is that Mike Ashley likes to make profit on players - he did reject an initial £30m bid, or in the words of Derek Llambias ‘slammed down the phone’ when the offer had been made.

If Liverpool weren’t to have increased their offer and Andy stayed at Newcastle United, what kind of picture would we be facing now?

Would Carroll have continued to score goals on a regular basis for NUFC? Or would he have fallen from the limelight and gained a reputation of ‘what might have been’?

Of course we don’t know how things would have fared out but Andy is a talented forward all the same - indeed one of the finest headers of the ball in the Premier League if not in Europe.

Liverpool haven’t given him the service he deserves or craves and instead want to build every movement through a certain Luis Suarez.

Carroll wasn’t worth £35m, and might never hold such a value ever again.

However, he can get you goals and I expect that he will make it at the highest level at some stage. Liverpool’s Kenny Dalglish has under-performed as much as Andy himself, and after all it was Kenny who eagerly lodged £35m into Newcastle United’s bank account on that cold January evening.

Once again, if the opportunity ever arose of Carroll returning to Newcastle United in the next year or so - how much of the £35m would you refund to LFC?

Comments welcomed 🙂


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