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Andy Carroll leaves Liverpool to join West Ham United on season-long loan dealLiverpool striker Andy Carroll has joined West Ham United on a year's loan after the striker reluctantly accepted his best chance of playing regular football this season was to leave Anfield.
On his way: Andy Carroll will sign for West Ham on loan after accepting he was not part of Brendan Rodgers' plans Photo: Action ImagesBy Chris Bascombe
8:13PM BST 30 Aug 2012
2 Comments Carroll headed to London on Thursday to undergo a medical before finalising the agreement. There will be no guarantee of a permanent deal at the end of his spell in London after Liverpool agreed to amend the terms of an earlier offer. There will now only be an option to buy the player rather than a commitment to do so.
The softening of Carroll’s stance was key to the opening of fresh series of talks between the clubs, and having been left out of the squad for Liverpool’s Europa League qualifier with Hearts on Thursday night, the 23 year-old opened up to the possibility of a move to Upton Park.
The only complication was the terms of the deal. Since making their initial bid which would have led to a permanent £17m deal if they avoided relegation, West Ham have invested in their squad, including the £11 million signing of Matt Jarvis from Wolves.
However, the fact both sides reopened negotiations underlined how keen the clubs were to do the deal and Carroll’s position had shifted.
He had always maintained his preference to remain at Anfield and fight for his place, but manager Brendan Rodgers this week described him as his ‘third choice’ centre forward and said Liverpool ‘couldn’t afford to keep a £35 million striker on the bench’.
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Rodgers is pressing ahead with a bid for Fulham’s Clint Dempsey, who would push Carroll further down the pecking order, and he added another teenager to his ranks yesterday, signing 18-year-old German Youth International Samed Yesil from Bayer Leverkusen for £1 million. The Liverpool manager even preferred Academy graduate Adam Morgan to Carroll in his line-up last night.
The England striker’s omission in Europe – not even on the bench against Hearts – is understood to have distressed him, and he must now consider his international prospects having been named in Roy Hodgson’s squad for the forthcoming qualifiers with Moldova and Ukraine.
Since Rodgers arrived at Liverpool and spoke freely about a vision for the side which would not include Carroll as a starter, there has been a feeling transfer talks would inevitably drag on towards transfer deadline day.
Although Carroll had hoped to convince Rodgers to keep him, he has never been as dismissive of a move to West Ham as many thought.
His close friend, Kevin Nolan, is at Upton Park and he shares an agent with manager Sam Allardyce. The London club heard encouraging vibes from the player prior to making their first approach in July, even if they knew the chances of a quick decision to quit Liverpool was unlikely.
Carroll had chosen to wait and see what calibre of clubs would make an approach for his signature. Although Newcastle, Fulham and Aston Villa all registered their interest, only West Ham’s bid was accepted and he will now look to prove Liverpool wrong in East London.
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