West Ham are open to letting Newcastle target Andy Carroll leave the club, but only on a permanent deal.
The striker has been linked with a return to his former club Newcastle United by the Chronicle, but if they do want to sign the 28-year-old it will not be for a temporary spell.
Andy Carroll thanks the fans during a lap of honor after the Premier League match between West Ham United and Liverpool.
Despite the £5m signing of Joselu from Stoke City (BBC), Magpies manager Rafa Benitez is understood to still be in the market for recruitment in attack with Newcastle having failed to score a goal in their first two games since returning to the Premier League.
Carroll was a youth product at St James’ Park, breaking into the first team in 2006 and scoring 33 goals in 90 appearances before a 2011 departure to Liverpool for a then Reds club record fee of £35m.
Yet the England international has struggled for consistent form since, leaving for West Ham United permanently in the summer of 2013 after a year on loan in East London, where injuries have plagued the forward.
Carroll has managed 114 matches for the Hammers in five years and has suffered a string of fitness problems that would unlikely cease if he moved back to the North East.
On loan the Englishman may have been worth the gamble, but on a permanent deal and during a season where Benitez’s side look to need all the help they can get in the final third, it may not pay off to take this nostalgia trip.
Andy Carroll of West Ham United reacts during the Premier League match against Hull City.
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