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Profile on Andy Carroll

Andrew Thomas Carroll was born in the north-eastern town of Gateshead in January, 1989. He signed a professional contract with neighbouring Newcastle United when he was only 17 years old and made 4 Premier League appearances for the Magpies in 2006-07, in addition to becoming the club’s youngest-ever participant in a competitive European fixture when he played against Palermo in a UEFA cup-tie early in November, 2006. His F.A. cup debut came a few weeks later against Birmingham City.

In 2007 he was the recipient of a ‘rising star’ award bearing the name of Newcastle legend Jackie Milburn but despite his growing reputation was loaned out to Championship club Preston North End to give him a better chance of regular first-team football. But his time at Deepdale was not a great success, just one goal from twelve League and cup matches and the first red card of his fledgling career against Scunthorpe in the middle of September. He returned to Newcastle in January 2008 and had added a further four Premier League matches to his total by the end of the 2007-08 season. By the time the following season started, Carroll was much more in the first-team picture despite the team battling, ultimately unsuccessfully, against relegation from the Premier League. It was in 2009-10 that he really came to the attention of the wider public as he scored 17 goals as Newcastle returned to the top division as winners of the Championship; and the goals continued to flow as Newcastle United resumed its place at English football’s top table, eleven strikes from 19 games helping to secure his lucrative move to Merseyside.

Carroll first played for England’s Under-19 side in 2007 and for the Under-21 side in 2009. His powerful performances for Newcastle had been noted by England’s national manager, Fabio Capello. The Italian called up Andy Carroll to the squad for a Wembley friendly against France in November, 2010. After passing a late fitness-test Carroll played from the start but was replaced by Jay Bothroyd in the 72nd minute,

With another transfer-window approaching, incoming Newcastle manager Alan Pardew attempted to dissuade potential suitors for his in-form striker by declaring that the player was not for sale and had “a bright future at St. James’ Park”. A week later Carroll was injured during a defeat at Tottenham and that injury kept him out of action as the January transfer-window opened. Because the player was unavailable for selection, it was maybe a bit of a surprise when Liverpool made its move towards the end of the window, although Kenny Dalglish already knew that he was likely to lose Fernando Torres to Chelsea and knew he had to act swiftly with time running out for him to secure an adequate replacement.

But nobody should expect Carroll to be ‘another Torres’. He is his own man, a tall and powerful man who will bring many different qualities into Liverpool’s squad, not least his heading ability, his all-round strength and a powerful shot that Pepe Reina can already testify to as he had been beaten from distance by Carroll towards the end of the Premier League match at Newcastle in December. Liverpool unveiled two new forwards on the same day, Carroll (22) and Suarez (24), with Reds’ supporters eager to see what impact the new men would have as they despondently watched Torres disappear in the direction of the capital city.

Copyright - LFChistory.net - written by Chris Wood ([email protected])

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