West Ham United striker Andy Carroll has been linked with a move to London rivals Chelsea.
West Ham have turned a corner under David Moyes and sit midtable after pulling away from the relegation zone, kickstarted by a win over Chelsea last month.
The Hammers have been linked with more than 30 players in the January transfer window but it seems they will have their work cut out to keep some of them too.
The Blues are said to be willing to meet West Ham’s £20 million asking price for the 29-year-old, which has not gone down well with fans at Stamford Bridge who believe they should be targeting better quality signings.
Many Hammers fans are happy to see injury-prone Carroll sold as long as he is replaced.
Carroll’s professionalism has often been called into question throughout his career.
Bellamy offered a fascinating insight into Carroll but said he lacks the professionalism and dedication to succeed at an elite club like Chelsea and called his character into question.
“In general play he’s very difficult to link with, doesn’t see the game,” Bellamy told The Debate.
“My conversations with Andy, and I do like him, but I don’t believe you work hard enough in the week to be the player you want to become. And I never seen an inch of that.
“Like with Jordan Henderson, he was going through a difficult period at that time as well but with Jordan you just seen him train, train, train, keep improving, keep improving, going to the gym, he worked and I remember saying to Jordan ‘You will be a top player, I know it just by your attitude and the ability you’ve got, it will turn’ – I never thought that was going to be the case with Andy.
“If he went to the gym and he felt a little bit stiff then he felt ‘Well I don’t want to go to the gym anymore I don’t like the soreness’ and I just felt that pain barrier sometimes you need to go through as a player – and I’m not talking about injuries or anything like that – is some of his injuries part of where he doesn’t look after himself enough, I feel that’s always the case with Andy and I just felt with him he just doesn’t have the mentality or the drive to be a top player, to be your Chelsea levels, to be at a club like Liverpool for more than one season.”
Meanwhile Blues legend Wise simply feels Carroll is neither good enough, ever fit enough or the right kind of player for his old club in a damning assessment.
“He’s a handful, but no I don’t think he is (the answer for Chelsea),” Wise told The Debate.
“The reason being is, doesn’t play enough games, has had a lot of injuries, he’s 29 years old, doesn’t score enough goals and so therefore looking from that point of view, no.
“His link-up play is not the greatest and he’s not the type of player I think you’d associate with Chelsea, it reminds me of Chris Sutton, he’s a bit like him… I don’t think Andy Carroll is the answer.”
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