When Andy Carroll burst on to the scene in the 2010/11 season by scoring an impressive 11 goals before January, the then-Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish was so impressed he used the £50million garnered from the sale of Fernando Torres to bring him to Anfield for a club-record £35m.
However, things did not work out for the Geordie at Liverpool and he failed to really nail down a first team place. Brendan Rodgers decided he didn’t want him after replacing Dalglish as he did not fit into his style of play and Carroll was subsequently loaned to West Ham before making his Upton Park stay permanent the following summer.
Obviously a man who demanded a £35m transfer fee is surely a huge talent, and at the time it looked like Carroll would score many goals and be an England regular for years to come.
He was just 22, had huge potential and some really impressive super aerial strengths, but it hasn’t worked out for Carroll largely down to his inability to stay fit and get regular football.
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Now at the age of 26, the question is whether Carroll ever fulfil his undoubted potential?
England boss Roy Hodgson still believes he can and has left the door open for him to return to the international scene.
The England boss said in an interview with Sky Sports: “If Andy can recapture his form, you know how much of a handful he is as a player, so who knows? He could quite easily become a player we look at.”
Handful is a word that is often associated with Carroll and on his day he is a real handful for opposing defenders. He possesses all the qualities to score 15 goals a season and lay goals on for team mates, too.
He is strong, has a fantastic leap, plays without fear, has a fantastic touch and has a hammer of a left foot on him. He can score all sorts of goals so there is no reason why the big striker can’t reach his potential, other than the fact he is becoming increasingly injury prone.
And that is the problem for Carroll; he is either injury prone or has been far too unlucky with injuries. Whichever it is, he needs to get sorted so he can get a good run of games under his belt in order to reach his true potential.
At points last season he was showing some signs of getting back to his best. He had a run of five goals in eight games and scored some absolute belters against Swansea, showing the thunderous header which of course is his trade mark but also a brilliant curling effort that highlighted a great touch, neat feet and sublime finesse.
Carroll has not started a season fully fit for a couple of years now and the Hammers will be hopeful of Carroll getting back to full fitness soon after being sidelined since February with a knee injury.
It could make a huge difference to Carroll if he can get a full pre-season behind him, as is expected to happen. It will help him remain fit for the season as his body will be conditioned properly, ensuring improved robustness.
It remains to be seen if Carroll can reach his full potential, which is in my view a 15 goal-a-season striker featuring regularly for England, but it can happen and this season may be the one West Ham get to see the striker they spent £17.5million on in the first place.
And moments like his fantastic header against Sweden in Euro 2012 from Gerrard’s pin-point cross won’t be a thing of the past and the big Geordie will start producing more moments like that for both club and country once more.
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