The Carroll Question: Deal Or No Deal?

It's more obvious than ever that Liverpool badly wants to sell Andy Carroll.

Whether Newcastle United will make an acceptable offer for the big striker, though, is as foggy as ever at this point.

Alan Pardew wouldn't offer a definitive update in Wednesday's press conference ahead of today's Europa League qualifier against Atromitos, first saying a return for Carroll didn't look possible before refusing to rule it out. Tricky, tricky.

We know by now not to live and die by what Pardew tells the media, particularly after he claimed Newcastle wouldn't sign a striker last January in the wake of a failed move for Modibo Maiga. Sure enough, Papiss Cisse arrived a few weeks later. Not to mention Pardew's assertions that Carroll wouldn't be sold in the first place.

That United is broadcasting a relaxed message - Pardew has repeatedly said he's fine with his squad as is - as the hours count down to the transfer deadline shouldn't come as a surprise, either. Even if Newcastle's hierarchy badly wants to re-sign Carroll, it certainly won't admit as much.

Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias love themselves some gambling, and this qualifies as a high-stakes game. Remember, Llambias is the man who claimed he told Liverpool to F*** off! and slammed the phone down when the Reds offered £30 million for Carroll on that fateful day. Would it really surprise you if Llambias was waiting for a similar desperate phone call from Anfield on Friday, should Liverpool need to free up funds to sign Clint Dempsey or Theo Walcott?

Only one thing is certain at this point: You'd be a fool to claim to know what's going to happen with Carroll.

UPDATE: Carroll joined West Ham United on a season-long loan on Thursday. West Ham is reportedly paying all of Carroll's hefty wages this season, and the London club also has the option to make the deal permanent after the season. In the end, then, it would appear that Newcastle wanted Carroll, but not quite as bad as West Ham did.

Liverpool no doubt was partial to any deal that didn't involve Carroll returning to Tyneside, too, which clearly didn't help Newcastle's efforts to land the big Geordie striker. And, given how the £35 million deal worked out for the Reds, you can't really blame them.

Comments

[Bob]

My new retirement plan is to get in a high-stakes poker game with Brendan Rodgers.

[beatski]

no deal. £12 mil on a backup striker is ridiculous, especially when we could get a 1st choice RB and a backup CB for that (or even a backup striker, considering we sold Best for £3mil)

[Cromby]

Why would anyone wish such a terrible infliction like been a Geordie on themselves? You should set your standards much higher, the only real class team in the North East is Sunderland. Come on son, its time to better yourself, its time to become a proud Mackem.

SAFC

[Bob]

You 5pe1led 5under1and wrong.

[geoff777]

Hope the phone call comes.

I'd love to see Andy back where he belongs in b&w.

Gives us a plan B and interesting to see if HBA/Cisse/Ba can feed off his knockdowns like Nolan did.

[Jon]

It's a yes for me at 12 million. We need different options up front. He is a fantastic player, just at the wrong club. We know he can do the business here, so get him in.

[Micky Burns]

Sunderland are S**T thought I would just say it cos we have a deluded Mackem on here. We were 5th you were 13th. We made Europe, you made us laugh. End of.

[Porciestreet]

Let's face it if he should come back, in terms of hard cash, he won't cost us anything because he would have paid for himself along with a couple of others. 2-1 the neet lads and all is well. Hawaaaaaaaaay the Lads.

[Porciestreet]

PS, A plague on all mackems.

[geordiepat]

"he won't cost us anything because he would have paid for himself" ... that's the kind of warped logic that Dalglish used to justify the Carroll deal in the first place with Torres bringing in £50m.

He will cost us precisely what we spend here and now.. which is by all accounts set to be in the £13-17m bracket. Almost no club, least of all one run by Ashley would spend that on a 'plan b'. It means dropping Ba or Cisse each week - both superior all-round strikers.. utter madness.

As various folk have said - that kind of money could be spent on a top fullback and a younger Carr-scouted mobile forward.. Son Heung-min or someone like that.

[geoff777]

Or it means one of the best target men in the world, creates tons of chances for our lethal Senegalese strikers.

Carroll plays is socks off in b&w, he'd be a great buy.

[Jon]

Signed for West Ham on loan.

[simon]

Well go figure a mackem that cant put a sentence together properly.
What next doctors in hospitals? Nurse.

[Michael]

It really makes me laugh how these sad Mackems come onto Newcastle United blogs, forums, and facebook pages spouting their crap. Scumberland is the pits, always has been and always will be. I would never lower myself to write anything on a Mackem page good or bad. I went to my first Newcastle game 38 yers ago and think you shower of useless inbreds have only ever finished above us 7 times since then, you have never played in Europe. You don't even have an airport even if you did manage to somehow qualify. Don't even think about using ours, you'd never get past security anyway. Dirty monkey Mackems belong in cages. Your ground is made out of lego and is slowly sinking. Your mum's your dad and your dad's your mum. You can always tell when you are at a Mackem wedding as all the family members sit on the same side. The best area you have in Scumberland is Pennywell which is slang for Monkey smell. You've got nowt, no night clubs, no shopping centre, no sightings of Mackems in Milan. Nowt. You're a blight on the North East. Mackem is an insult but you take it as a compliment because you are too thick to understand the origins of the insult in the first place. When you came to Newcastle and stole the jobs of striking ship builders. Hence the term Mackem and tackems. Or in better words SCABS!!!!