My heart actually skipped a beat when I saw that headline as I casually stuck on teletext on Sunday afternoon. The offer is a season long loan with a view to a fee of around £12million to make it permanent we're hearing. I'm also reading now that the bid has been rejected by Liverpool.
Now all of this is very exciting & I was not expecting this to happen...or was I?! Lets back up a second shall we...
On the 1st February 2011 I said the words, "£35million?! For Carroll? That is ridiculous. Take it. I guarantee you he will be considered a flop, he'll have to be at that price. We'll then loan him back with a view to signing him back for a fraction of the price in a year or 2. Just like Spurs did with Robbie Keane. Mark my words"
So I sit here now 15 months later feeling a little smug but also shocked at the same time as this thing might actually happen after all.
This deal, if NUFC come back with a better bid & it were to go through at some point, was inevitable in my eyes when you consider it properly. a) Liverpool have a history of getting rid of players quickly aka Robbie Keane, Joe Cole, Alberto Aquilani, Bellamy, etc. b) He is never going to live upto £35mil in a million years and will buckle under the pressure, being labelled a flop. c) If he were to leave Liverpool it would be for a bigger club (for whatever reason) or in failing that, there is only one other club Andy Carroll could ever play for...and that's his boy-hood, home-town team Newcastle Utd.
Basically the deal had three phases to complete before it can be rightfully claimed as the best single piece of transfer business by a club in the history of football. Phase 1) Sell him for a ridiculous, obscene fee in which you can buy a new team with. Phase 2) Wait for him to buckle under the pressure and be considered a flop by most as there is no chance he could possibly live up to expectations. Phase 3) Bring him back on loan/buy him back for a fraction of the price and just taste nothing but sweet net profit. Mmmm. I absolutely love it.....plus an added bonus of making Liverpool into an even bigger joke of a football club. Ha. I miss Kenny already...
The trouble is I am all excited now and will be gutted if this deal doesn't happen. Plus there are the small points of a) whether we want him back, b) would he be accepted back or c) whether he could actually fit into our new style.
On point a) I would have him back in a heart beat. I have always backed him ever since he left us and thought he got far too much of a raw deal at Anfield. I mean Liverpool refused to use him to his strenghts, it was ridiculous. Listening to there excuse of 'well, we dont play like Newcastle' was laughable. So why did you buy him then? Idiots.
Point b) Mandy has his haters within the walls of SJP, there's no doubt about it. I have heard them. However, i'm not being disrespectful or dismissive to those people but as soon as they saw Mandy smash a few in, wearing the black 'n' white again, their tune would certainly start to wane if not change altogether (depending on his level of success obviously). They will come round. Trust me.
Point c) Is probably the only thing that has me thinking on a negative note about it. I am a disciple of the 4-3-3 formation we tried out for a bit last season. It was beautiful. So Papiss would certainly lead that tripod. so Mandy, in my team, would be a bench warmer to come on and terrorise. However, I have the distinct feeling that Pardew is going to have the 4-4-2 as our Plan A again this year (i'm afraid) so he would fit into this...but so would Demba Ba. Interesting what his future is going to be this summer. I also have a strong feeling the lad will be off by the end of this month as somebody with a wage budget will add Demba to their list of employees, which he would happily accept. I have my feelings about Demba and they aren't all good. He seems very money driven and if he thinks for a second he will be asked to play LW again this season, his decision to leave would be a lot easier. He just doesn't like it. End of.
From Andy's view as well there is also the issue of whether he would actually want to come back himself. Especially after what happened in the 2-0 win we had over the scousers in which he was basically embarrassed and humiliated though-out. That dive was shocking, dear me. But I personally think he would if we showed genuine desire to wish him back with open arms.
From Andy's view as well there is also the issue of whether he would actually want to come back himself. Especially after what happened in the 2-0 win we had over the scousers in which he was basically embarrassed and humiliated though-out. That dive was shocking, dear me. But I personally think he would if we showed genuine desire to wish him back with open arms.
We also need to look at, why would Liverpool let him join us, they have rejected the first bid as it falls short of their valuation. Regardless of price, as far as they are concerned, we are a direct rival to their ambitions next season. To loan us one of there players to make us stronger wouldn't make much sense. It seems the only way they would sell him/loan him to us is if Andy himself uses his player power to force a move through. Robbie Keane got himself back to Spurs within 6 months of signing for Liverpool for £20mil, so it has happened before. Player power can't be underestimated. If Carroll says, 'I want to go back and no-where else' can Liverpool stop him? Who knows.
Having said all of this, it is still very early days & the bid has been rejected. So unless NUFC come back with a better offer this potential transfer could be dead & may be totally forgotten about this time next week. I am not getting too excited, but it has certainly livened up this summer massively. Certainly enough to awake me from my summer hibernation. We shall see how this one pans out. The transfer window is officially open!
Good to be back!
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