West Ham United are reported to have lodged a £17 million bid for the Liverpool striker.
Sam Allardyce and Andy Carroll is a match made in… heaven, or footballing hell – depending on your perspective.
For fans of the old direct ‘route one’ style football – a unification between manager and player could be the ideal footballing marriage.
For affecionados of the ‘tiki-taka’ perfected by Spain and so revered in the modern game, it couldn’t be further away – and West Ham would face becoming a team few neutrals enjoy watching.
Just look at Stoke City, the Premier League’s most ‘direct’ team – who last year added Peter Crouch to feed off their set pieces and long throws.
The addition of Carroll to West Ham’s side would be a gamble by the club, and an expensive one.
It is not that the striker is not a talented player, he clearly is, but in what direction would he take the Hammers?
Sam Allardyce has faced a battle to win the hearts and minds of Hammers fans since day one; the minimum requirement was to gain promotion – that he did.
But West Ham fans now want a bit more, they want to see attractive football, not the ‘route one’ approach previous Allardyce sides have been renowned for.
The exciting signing of Ricardo Vaz Te in January mixed it up, and the promise of Ravel Morrison presents an exciting prospect should he get his act together, but would Carroll’s arrival simply put them back to square one?
Carroll is unwanted by Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool because he does not fit their vision for exciting, progressive football, and West Ham should know what they are getting.
But then they have Sam Allardyce as manager, so they really should know what to expect anyway. Instead of trying to change Big Sam, perhaps it’d be best to let him get on with it, managing the club the way he best knows how.
If that means giving him the very best tools to execute his brand of football, then so be it, and by handing him £17 million to bid for Carroll – That is exactly what Gold and Sullivan are doing.
Fill in the blanks from your perspective – ‘Allardyce and Carroll are a match made in _____’
image: © Ben Sutherland
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