Andy Carroll's conundrum: Is retirement inevitable?
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Updated 08/04/2019 at 14:58 GMT
Andy Carroll's West Ham United career is over. It was reported on Monday that the former Liverpool striker will require further ankle surgery that will effectively end his time at London Stadium.
West Ham forward Andy Carroll (PA)
Image credit: PA Sport
He is out of contract in the summer, and there will not be another deal on the table.
Having missed the opening four months of the campaign, the 30-year-old England player has made just 14 appearances and scored just once, in his side's 2-0 win over Birmingham City in the FA Cup third round tie in January.
His last appearance in a claret and blue shirt came on February 27 in the 1-0 defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
Who is the most expensive English striker in history?
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Andy Carroll was signed as Liverpool sought to replace Fernando Torres
Image credit: Getty Images
It is a question that leaves many football anoraks increasingly bemused with the passing of time, but Carroll remains the answer.
As Fernando Torres departed Liverpool for Chelsea in a £50m deal in January 2012, Carroll was one half of a contingency plan that has demonstrated the contrasting career trajectories that can occur within the realms of the elite.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney are often cited as the obvious example, but Carroll's tale juxtaposed with that of Luis Suarez, who was not viewed as an unfair comparison when the Uruguayan arrived at Anfield at the same time for £13m less.
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Luis Suarez is now chasing a fourth La Liga title and second Champions League
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'When fully fit'
Three words that the target man's biggest fans will automatically utter during the rose-tinted tributes that will come when the inevitability of early retirement eventually arrives.
But typing "Andy Carroll + physio room" into a Google search engine is so detailed that it requires a subscription. Rather than being a poorly attempted joke, this is a reputation the player has bought and paid for over many years.
Carroll has suffered almost every injury imaginable for a footballer, his return date engraved on the casualty list as 'unknown'.
Back in 2012, when London was the focus of the world's gaze, Carroll was shining as bright as any Olympian under the Wembley arch. Three appearances at the national stadium had brought mixed fortunes.
After winning the League Cup in February, Carroll scored the winning goal in the Merseyside derby against Everton as Liverpool reached the FA Cup Final, where another goal proved in vain as Chelsea ran out 2-1 winners.
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Carroll celebrates scoring for Liverpool against Chelsea in the 2012 FA Cup final
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But he was a dead cert for Roy Hodgson's European Championship squad, vindicated by his goal in the 3-2 win over Sweden in Kiev.
When considering Carroll's career, it is worth looking back at that England squad. Phil Jagielka, who was still busy derailing Arsenal's Champions League hopes on Sunday, was on stand by.
Ashley Young is still an integral part of Manchester United's squad under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer while James Milner and Jordan Henderson (stand by) were viewed as providing the difference in the second half for Liverpool on Friday night against Southampton.
John Ruddy was back at Wembley suffering heartbreak for Wolves while Jermain Defoe was playing an instrumental role for Rangers in their 3-0 win over Motherwell at Fir Park in the Scottish Premiership.
These are players who have got the most out of their respective careers - but there are others that will look back with an overwhelming sense of unfulfillment.
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Carroll rises to head England in front against Sweden at Euro 2012
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Glen Johnson had become Liverpool's most expensive ever defender having joined from Portsmouth for £17.5m in June 2009 - but his acceleration into retirement a decade later at the age of 34 highlights the lack of appeal to continue playing for some when the Champions League music has stopped.
Carroll has, of course, become accustomed to hearing 'Bubbles' from the stands for most of these past seven years (he enjoyed a successful loan spell in the 2012/13 season with West Ham after Brendan Rodgers felt he didn't suit his style of play at Anfield), and his first interview as a permanent Hammer has gathered poignancy with each passing setback.
He said: "I just want to keep fit now, keep scoring goals and performing week in and week out for West Ham, if I do that here, play well and keep fit, then hopefully I will get in the England team."
And as West Ham prepare to allow the striker to depart as a free agent in the summer, should another Premier League club take a chance on him?
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Carroll's hat-trick for West Ham against Arsenal has been a rare highlight
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'If Carroll at £35m is the going rate..'
Thirty-four goals in 142 appearances for the east London club has hardly set the world alight, and with Jack Wilshere the heir apparent to Carroll's thrown as King of crocks, Manuel Pellegrini would appear keen for their training base Rush Green not to become an extension of nearby King George Hospital.
But while Carroll will have the scars to show for his stop-start career, he has left his mark on the English game, beyond a memorable hat-trick for West Ham in a 3-3 draw with Arsenal in April 2016 and his brilliant bicycle-kick against Crystal Palace in January 2017.
When Dominic Solanke joined Bournemouth from Liverpool four months ago, his £19million price tag raised a few eyebrows - but it was merely a reflection of the current market, and a valuation set by Liverpool in more ways than one, having parted from £35m in exchange for Carroll some eight years earlier under Kenny Dalglish.
League Cup success did follow at the end of that season - but it is a curiosity that Liverpool's wait for silverware ever since has come despite swathes of positivity surrounding Jurgen Klopp's time at the club.
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Is Carroll set to wave goodbye to the Premeir League?
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Conversely, Carroll can point to the same barren trophy cabinet since playing 103 minutes of that penalty shootout success over Cardiff City.
Injuries have plagued his career, and yet he is often viewed as being part of England's failed generation XI, placed firmly in the role of latching onto Theo Walcott and Stewart Downing crosses.
Many things can be described as having been 'very West Ham' over the past six years, but perhaps top of the pile is the length of contract for Carroll that has stretched for that time in spite of his history of injuries.
Will Carroll call it a day?
When he joined West Ham from Liverpool in 2013 in an initial deal that cost £15m, Carroll agreed to take a pay-cut despite wanting to push through his £100,000-a-week wage demands.
After his failed stint at Liverpool, it is fairly safe to say that Carroll's chances of joining a top-six side are behind him.
But even a glance at the contenders for the 'best of the rest' suggests he may struggle to find a top-flight club.
Motivation may become an issue. The attempted comebacks from injury, his chronic ankle issues, will no doubt have taken its toll on a player who even in his first Premier League season with Newcastle in 2010, aged 22, felt like a throwback to Jackie Milburn, Malcolm Macdonald and Alan Shearer.
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Carroll has cost a total of £50m in transfer fees
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Carroll's transfer fees spanning three clubs has amounted to £50m - a total only eclipsed among English strikers by Peter Crouch (£50.6m) and Darren Bent (53.5m). He will be wealthy enough to call it quits as he hits his 30s.
Bent is still a free agent having left Derby last summer, seemingly happy to take on media commitments, while Crouch has already begun his inevitable transition into the media, dovetailing with bench duties for Burnley.
Now it would seem a player with such old-fashioned centre forward attributes could join the list of Englishmen heading for an early and perhaps unsatisfactory retirement when he imagines what could have been.
Ben Grounds @Ben_Islington
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