Sunday, May 19, 2013

West Ham Still Pushing For Andy Carroll

Sam Allardyce has revealed he’s hopeful West Ham can tie up a permanent deal for on-loan Liverpool striker Andy Carroll ‘as quickly as possible’.

The 24-year-old has proved a popular figure among Hammers fans, and despite only bagging seven goals, has won a recall to the England team following a good run of form.

Allardyce has never made any secret of his desire to keep Carroll, but with the Reds looking for at least £17million for the man they paid £35m for back in 2011, the Hammers boss knows the Londoners could be in for a long summer of negotiations.

‘He has shown everybody what he can do and he has massive potential to grow into a very good player if he ends up back here with us,’ Allardyce told reporters ahead of West Ham’s final Premier League match against Reading on Sunday.

‘He’s so willing to learn and become better that I think we could do well for each other, but there is a way to go before that might get sorted.

‘It’s about negotiation and both parties have to be happy that the negotiation cannot go any farther and it’s a “yes” or “no”. We hope it’s a “yes” and we hope it is as quickly as possible.

‘I think that my reflection of Andy is exactly what I said from the start – as soon as we get him match-fit, the sooner you will see the goals.

‘That match-fitness never came until his run after his second injury and I’m still wondering what he might have done this year had we got him off that one minute before he did his hamstring in his first game (against Fulham).’

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