West Ham United striker Andy Carroll has made just four appearances so far this season.
Slaven Bilic has admitted to the Daily Mirror that West Ham United striker Andy Carroll is worried about his current injury problems.
Carroll has only featured once for West Ham in the league this season, after another campaign where he has struggled to avoid the treatment table.
Carroll has not been able to play more than 30 league games in a season ever since he joined West Ham, way back in 2012.
The England international has made less than 100 appearances in the past five years for the Hammers.
And Bilic admits that Carroll is starting to get concerned by his persistent failure to stay fit.
“Since I have been here, the only problem has been he has not been fit. I’ve no complaints. He is very professional,” Bilic said.
“I know he is very frustrated to be injured, especially after his pre-season. It was the best pre-season he’d had by a mile. He did almost every training session, no injuries. Then, after the first game, he got injured in Romania out of nothing.
“He is still out. It is a tough time. He is very sensible and he said to me his biggest concern was, ‘Now it is going to be in the papers again: “Out again”. They are going to say I got injured.’
“He is worried.”
West Ham have missed Carroll in his absence, as they are short of striking options.
The Hammers’ summer recruits have not made much of an impact at the London Stadium, and Bilic has had to experiment to try and find a player to lead the line.
West Ham have resorted to playing Michail Antonio out of position up-front in recent weeks, such is their shortage of front men.
It is still unclear when Carroll will return to fitness, but it seems that 27-year-old still has some way to go until he is ready to come back into West Ham’s first team squad.
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