IT is often said that money talks in football and Liverpool’s new manager and current number 9 are surely all too aware of this. Brendan Rodgers has seemingly been forced into taking a decision on Andy Carroll’s future before even seeing him in action as Liverpool manager.
Through no fault of either manager of player, the striker’s location for the coming season appears to be being dictated primarily by his £35m transfer fee and current market value, rather than his talent or his new manager’s opinion of him as a footballer. This situation is of Damien Comolli’s making.
His negotiating of the deal to bring Carroll to Liverpool 18 months ago means that time, patience and assessment of the player are not options currently available to Liverpool’s new manager. Comolli’s poor dealings during his time at Liverpool continue to have far reaching consequences and the people suffering from his mistakes (particularly Brendan Rodgers and Andy Carroll) are now in undesirable positions as a result of the Frenchman’s poor performance in the transfer market.
Rodgers has talked about assessing his squad since the moment he took charge at Anfield, but the media speculation surrounding Carroll (and fuelled off the record by the club) over the past month suggests that the big number 9 was not included in this approach. Carroll’s impressive end to the season and subsequent performances at Euro 2012 have seen his market value increase after a hitherto dismal time since January 2011. The problem is that his value, while improved recently, is still so far short of the incredible amount that Liverpool paid for his services that a sale this summer would still bring with it an eye watering financial hit on a player whose best days surely lay ahead of him. Rodgers was faced with the task of deciding whether to sell the striker while his value is relatively high now or gamble on keeping him and hoping he improves even further. He seems to have chosen the first option.
The problem isn’t that Carroll is a bad player or that Rodgers has hastily decided that he wouldn’t like the chance to try and integrate Carroll into his team. The problem is that Damien Comolli overpaid on Carroll to such an irresponsible level that recouping any decent amount of money on the player now has to be considered. Indeed, if Andy Carroll had been acquired for ‘just’ £18m, his future at Liverpool would probably be assured right now.
Rodgers would be assessing him during pre-season and would more than likely give the Geordie target man opportunities over the coming season to prove his worth. It is obvious that significant talent lies within Carroll and it would be churlish to suggest that Rodgers wouldn’t relish the opportunity of extracting and enhancing that talent. The problem is that Carroll’s potential integration into the new managers system would likely require time and it is not guaranteed to be successful. If Carroll stays he may not be a regular starter under Rodgers and therein lies the main reason for his impending exit. How do you keep a £35m player at the club if he isn’t a guaranteed starter?
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With every poor performance or game spent on the bench, Carroll’s value would only decrease and by this time next year. Should Carroll fail to impress under his new manager, then the £15m-£20m being muted for his possible transfer right now will probably be double any offer Liverpool would receive after a season of underperformance. Instead of being able to asses Carroll and try and utilise him as he sees fit, Rodgers must always consider the player’s value as a primary factor. It all comes back to that £35m price tag. It is a sad situation that a young forward on a seemingly upward curve in his career may not be given the chance to prove himself at Anfield and it is all down to the irresponsible fee negotiated by Damien Comolli when he was at Liverpool.
If further proof of Comolli’s dealing being a significant factor in the future of Carroll is needed we only need to look to another of Comolli’s expensive English signings. Stewart Downing showed far less promise last season than Carroll did but his future at Liverpool is under little scrutiny at this moment, not because of his ability to be an effective player for the club, but because any fee Liverpool would receive for his services this summer would be negligible given his age and form.
Indeed, if Carroll hadn’t demonstrated such an obvious improvement at the back end of the 2011/12 season his future at Liverpool would likely be as secure as Downing’s as his value would also be so low that selling him wouldn’t be worthwhile. It is ironic that Liverpool have to seriously consider selling a young striker in hot form rather than an out of sorts, ageing winger primarily because of the prices paid by Comolli and their current market value.
If and when Carroll moves on from Merseyside this summer he should feel a sense of injustice and disgruntlement, not towards the manager who will have moved him on, but to the man who brought him to Liverpool for such a ridiculously inflated fee. Damien Comolli has a lot to answer for. The money that he wasted during his time at Liverpool continues to talk loudly.
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Valuable points made in this article.
I do believe its as simple as style, Carroll is not a natural for the passing game BR will want to play, can he adjust, possibly but that is were the risk sits as per this article. If he doesn’t adapt over the coming season then we would be lucky to get 10m for him.
For those who like Carroll and want him to stay, we all have to remember this is not personal, its not about hero’s, its about a young man’s future and if his style doesn’t adapt then he will lose a year of his career. Difficult one this one …
He’s still getting paid whether he bench warms or plays, and at his age 12 months is nothing. How many players have lost a season through injury? Look no further than Lucas. I believe he can adapt to Rodgers system and to say he can’t before he’s been given a chance is doing him a great disservice.
in my opinion, andy carroll has been a far better signing then our worst signing in the past decade; stewart downing. kick downing out and keep carroll.
and bring in gaston ramirez in downing’s place.
Trying to buy and sell players at the best price and get them at the lowest possible wage is costing us dearly right now. Missing out on gylfi, stuck with carrol and now possibly missing out of allen. If the manager wants a player he must be the best option in terms of ability so 40k per week or 65k per week he should be signed. How can you value a player at 15 mil and say he’s not worth 18 mil . How are we judging that 3 mil gap for example ?
Lets take our memory back to a young lad named mario gomez if I can remember very wel he was about to be sold or even being load to liverpool than but the unxepected happened 2day he is one of the most faired strikers in the world . Am sayin this Bcoz andy carroll may turn out to b like him lets give him a chance for we may endup regratin it.
By your reasoning Andy should also be very pissed off at Newcastle for make the deal so large!
Blame it on kenny alone,he’s the one who tell comolli to get carroll at all cost,so why everyone shifting the blame on comolli just because he’s our legend,let’s face it no one is bigger than the club,kenny bought lotof crap into LFC,now BR have to clean up those sshiiiit,i blame all this on kenny.
I totally agree red. KD really did this club a dis-service with all he did over those 18mths. while we won the carling cup a club the size of liverpool should not had had to struggle to penalties to do so. KD was really sending us back to the 80s & the game has evolved far beyond that point. Rafa wanted the job and indicated same so if we had given him the job we would not hav this discussion abt the crappy players KD brought in………If BR fails I suggest we give Rafa the job of rebuilding the club.
I am the last man to blame DC for any of the transfer howlers; let’s not make a scapegoat, so it be KD our legend – at the end of the day, club comes first. I don’t think in LFC, any Tom, Dick or Harry from France without any on field reputation ‘ll come to Melwood & dictate KD’s team. The transfers are 100% KD’s decision & he has to take the blame. Also, I don’t think, in any football club, whatever the structure is, the Director of Football can purchase players for the Manager without his buying, specially for someone of DC’s pedigree as a player.
DC was brought mostly to off-load the previous garbage purchased by Woy & he successfully did that. I think, DC was sacked not for the transfer howlers, even the football ignorant Yanks can understand who was the boss; he was sacked for his failure to guide & warn the owners on KD’s blander.
Coming to the transfers, I have to say, among the 4 British garbage racist KD brought (I had to say racist, because to establish those ordinary Brits, he either off-loaded or loaned top Internationals & later to accommodate, sidelined Kyut & Maxi), AC was the best purchase, despite his obnoxiously high price & Downing is the worst. BR’s problem is, he has to start a 35mn, 75k/week player, who doesn’t fit his style. Moreover, he has to change his team, because, the previous incompetent Manager (mainly due to 10 years in wilderness from modern football) has build the team around a very average player & his other purchases to support the tactics are even poorer.
Had we been in CL, I am sure he would have kept AC, but now just can’t grant a 75K/week pension for warming bench, specially when there are other garbage sucking up fat pay cheques. He is trying to get as much as possible for AC, once that done, I believe he ‘ll simply through Downing & Adam to the trash bean for whatever he gets. We are running with a thin squad, specially with Thursday-Sunday schedule & he has to carry the numbers. His efforts to bring Sidurdsson, Allen, Dempsey, Ramirez or Gatian indicates that, days for Adam & Downing are counted in LFC.
I think, both BR & Henrey have accepted that, they ‘ll take a 12~15mn hit on Downing & Adam (still better, for the savings of salary) & it’s a mater of time when they are shown the door at whatever they can cash on.