A 22-year-old Andy Carroll scored 11 goals in his first 19 games for Newcastle during the 2010/11 Premier League season before suffering a knock that would rule him out for a few weeks.
This injury coincided with his shocking £35 million ($45 million) January deadline-day transfer to Liverpool. Carroll, currently playing the French lower leagues, wasn’t too enthused about the switch: “I was injured at the time, and all I’m thinking is, ‘Please, just fail the medical’, he revealed in 2019.
“The minute I got on that helicopter I wanted to come back.” Carroll continued. “I knew it had to happen. Whatever age, I needed to walk back on that pitch and play for Newcastle again.”
Carroll’s Liverpool stint exactly go to plan. He scored just two goals in his debut half-season and then nine in 47 games a season later (including the winner against Everton in the FA Cup semifinal).
The Geordie-born Carroll debuted for Newcastle in the UEFA Cup all the way back in 2006 as a 17-year-old. He was a bit part player in the side for years before getting a chance to start after the club was relegated in 2009.
Carroll was a star in the Championship, scoring 17 goals as Newcastle topped the division to earn promotion straight back to the Premier League.
Morning, it’s eight years since this goal from Andy Carroll against Everton at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final
Worth. Every. Penny pic.twitter.com/aXcdEl0eJf
— Liverpool.com (@Liverpoolcom_) April 14, 2020
“I remember leaving [Newcastle’s training ground] in Kevin Nolan’s car because loads of people were outside,” Carroll said. “We went to his house and watched it on TV. I was like, “I’m not going”. I’d just bought a house, and a cat the day before!”
“Listen, I would have rather stayed at the time and all the way to the helicopter I’m thinking, “What is happening? What am I doing?”. But looking back, and how it shaped me as a player and a person, I would honestly still do it. I probably needed to get out of the city to grow up.”
At the time of the move, Carroll was vocal about how he never wished to hand in a transfer request. Manager Alan Pardew admitted in a 2011 interview that “We didn’t force anybody to leave.”
After a failed season-and-a-half at Liverpool, Carroll went on loan to West Ham before the move was made permanent in 2014. He would spend six years with the East London club before returning to Newcastle on a free in 2019.
Two years later, Carroll bounced around the Championship with both West Brom and Reading before signing with second-tier French side Amiens. He currently plays for Bordeaux in the Championnat National 2.
