Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Andy Carroll would be a strange signing for Chelsea

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According to the Daily Telegraph, Chelsea have opened talks with West Ham over signing striker Andy Carroll this month. The Irons reportedly value the striker at £20million, although the Blues have not yet made a bid for the giant striker.

The reigning Premier League champions have struggled to score goals in recent games. However, for me, Andy Carroll seems like a strange remedy for a lack of goals.

Carroll is majorly injury-prone

Andy Carroll is sidelined at the minute due to an ankle injury according to Irons boss David Moyes. That is the least surprising news in a long time. Carroll has spent much of his career at West Ham on the sidelines due to injuries.

Injuries have hampered Carroll’s once-promising football career. At 29-years-old, he has fulfilled very little of his early career promise at West Ham, or anywhere else for that matter.

A fully fit Andy Carroll is a very good player. However, the striker is very rarely fully fit. He also takes a while to get fit after being injured, which means he does not hit the ground running.

It is a shame that the striker cannot stay injury free for long. However, it is now a fact for the West Ham star. Any club looking to sign the striker need to think long and hard before putting pen to paper, even if it is for a relatively small sum of £20million these days.

Chelsea does need a striker

It is hard to argue with the Blues thinking of bringing in a new striker. Spanish striker Alvaro Morata made a bright start to life in the capital. However, he has struggled for form and goals of late. As he has struggled for goals, the team have also struggled.

In reality, though, Chelsea’s only other striking option is Belgian international Michy Batshuayi. The former Marseille striker has found getting into the Chelsea team difficult.

Last season he had Diego Costa to compete with, this season it is Morata. At the minute, Batshuayi looks further away from being a first-team regular than ever. He just does not look good enough to be competition for Morata for a first-team place.

Batshuayi is now a reported target of La Liga of Sevilla. However, reportedly the Blues are unwilling to allow the striker to leave, as they do not have any other striking cover.

Antonio Conte does need to add to his striking options. The option of Carroll seems a strange one, though. He may only be a plan b after Morata, but the fact he is so injury-prone would be a major concern for any prospective buyer and it is hard to get away from it.

A good move for West Ham and Chelsea

West Ham are at the wrong end of the table and will likely be looking to add to their squad. It is unclear if boss David Moyes has funds to spend. Selling a player that is barely ever fit must seems a good option for the Scot.

The Hammers are currently 14/1 to suffer relegation. However, they still have work to do. Squad reinforcements could make their season a lot easier and Carroll’s sale would make that possible.

The player himself is reported to be interested in the move, which is unsurprising, as not only would he likely get a bigger pay packet, he would also be registered in the Blues Champions League squad.

He would have to accept that he would not be playing regular first-team football at Chelsea. However, his injury record suggests that he would not be available on a regular basis anyway for the Blues if he joined the south west London club.

I have read some brutal comments from Chelsea fans about the prospect of their club signing Andy Carroll. Fair to say, they were not exactly complimentary. I can understand where those Chelsea fans are coming from, though.

Surely if Chelsea needs a striker, they can sign a better one than Andy Carroll, not ability wise but fitness wise. For me, it would be a very strange move on the part of the reigning champions and maybe illustrates where the club are.

Would Andy Carroll be a good signing for Chelsea?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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