A POTENTIAL RETURN to Newcastle for Andy Carroll is in the hands of chairman Mike Ashley and the Liverpool board, manager Alan Pardew says.
Carroll cost the Merseyside club £35million when he made the switch to Anfield in January 2011, but it is believed new boss Brendan Rodgers does not see the striker as suitable for the style of play he plans to implement next season.
Several reports have suggested Newcastle have already had a loan offer for the 23-year-old, which supposedly included an option to make the deal permanent for a fee of around £13m, turned down. Liverpool, it has been claimed, are holding out for a higher figure of around £20m as they look to recoup a more significant chunk of their original outlay.
“It will be what it will be,” Pardew told the Newcastle Evening Chronicle. “That whole process is a little bit more involved with the chairman and the board at Liverpool. We’ve got a great team here, a great squad, and if Andy Carroll comes it’ll only add to us.”
He continued: “It’s simple, really. Sometimes transfers are done at corporate level. I’m slightly detached from that. It’s been said that he’s available, and if we’re involved then we’ll be involved because of the figures, not anything else, because we know he’s good enough. I’m slightly detached from it.”
Carroll had bagged 11 goals in 19 English Premier League matches during the 2010/11 season for Newcastle before making the move to Anfield. Since then, he has scored just six times in 42 top-flight appearances, but he did score the winning goal in last season’s FA Cup semi-final against Everton.
