Are West Ham about to do the unthinkable after surprise twist in future of Andy Carroll?

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A new report has claimed West Ham United could be about to do the unthinkable and EXTEND Andy Carroll’s stay at the club.

Andy Carroll is fast becoming a forgotten man at West Ham and indeed in the Premier League.

Injury-prone Carroll has played just 18 games for West Ham last season, scoring only three goals – albeit very important ones.

The big Geordie has played only 128 matches for the Hammers in six seasons and netted just 33 goals in that time.

All told the Carroll deal has cost West Ham a staggering £50 million and counting.

With a wage of £90,000 per week – as widely reported by the likes of The Mirror, Carroll has cost the Hammers £48 million so far based on his salary, initial loan fee from Liverpool and his eventual £18 million permanent fee – a then club record.

And that figure will undoubtedly pushed over £50 million when goal bonuses and other such clauses are taken into account.

The eye-watering amount means Carroll has cost the Hammers in the region of £1.5 million per goal since joining the East Londoners.

So a new report emerging this week will undoubtedly raise eyebrows among West Ham supporters after well-placed Hammers news website Claret & Hugh claimed the club has a two-year option on Carroll’s contract which expires next summer.

After spending the best part of six years waiting for Carroll to finally prove his fitness most Hammers fans have given up.

While nobody doubts Carroll’s quality and commitment when he takes to the field fully fit, question marks over his commitment off the pitch and his injury record are a huge source of frustration for the club and its fans.

When he is fit and firing there are not many better all-round forwards in the Premier League. But that is half the problem, he very rarely is.

West Ham simply cannot rely on injury-prone striker former England man anymore and have wasted years trying to build teams to get the best out of his attributes.

So to extend his stay to eight years would surely be unthinkable particularly with the club seemingly going in a different direction under Manuel Pellegrini and the much-vaunted front three of Andriy Yarmolenko, Felipe Anderson and Marko Arnautovic.