Andy Carroll says he wanted to fail Liverpool medical before ill-fated £35m move

05 October 2023 , 10:08

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Andy Carroll says he wanted to fail Liverpool medical before ill-fated £35m move

It was the move that broke the hearts of the Newcastle faithful - and now Andy Carroll claims he never even wanted it to happen.

At the start of the 2010-11 campaign, the striker was tipped for big things having been instrumental in the Magpies winning the Championship the previous season. And by January in his maiden top-flight season, he had 11 goals in 19 games, and was already established as a cult hero with club fans.

But then everything changed in a hurry. Amid Fernando Torres making a £50million move from Liverpool to Chelsea, Kenny Dalglish duly targeted Carroll as a forward option for the Reds, with the saga rolling into deadline day.

Despite insisting he wanted to stay in the north east, Carroll completed a £35million move just minutes before the 11pm deadline. A mixed 18 months would follow at Anfield, with the now 34-year-old picking up a League Cup winners medal but scoring just 11 times in 58 club appearances before being shipped out on loan to West Ham.

And now he's insisted that he'd privately hoped his switch to Merseyside would fall through. “From the moment Liverpool made this incredible bid on deadline day, I found myself in a helicopter, without really understanding why," he told L’Équipe.

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Only two months previously, Carroll had signed a new five-year contract with Newcastle, but it was his physical condition he hoped might scupper things, adding: "As I was injured, I remember hoping to fail my medical."

Andy Carroll signed for Liverpool in January 2011 (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

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However, the ex-England international has since altered his view on the move, believing it benefited him personally and professionally. "This helped me grow up by taking me out of my comfort zone," he said. "Because I knew nothing about life and football, apart from Newcastle.“

Carroll would go on to spend seven seasons at West Ham, and later repaired his relationship with Newcastle fans by returning for a two-year stint, albeit an injury plagued one. Further moves to Reading and then West Brom followed.

He now finds himself in France with Ligue 2 side Amiens, and said the style of play varied to his experiences in England: "Here, it’s a little more tactical, I have to spend my energy only in certain situations.”

Fraser Watson