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£35m player says he never actually wanted to sign for Liverpool

Charles Jones

Sat 1 February 2025 10:45, UK

Liverpool have had their fair share of transfer duds in recent years.

Naby Keita was heavily criticised at Liverpool after his move to Anfield, while Mario Balotelli was a flop at Liverpool.

Cast your mind back to January 2011, and you’ll remember another big-money transfer at Anfield that didn’t work out.

Indeed, on deadline day in January 2011, Andy Carroll signed for Liverpool for what was a record fee for an English player back then – £35m.

Unfortunately, Carroll didn’t do much to justify that pricetag in his time at Anfield, and speaking on , the striker has now opened up on his move to the Reds.

• READ MORE: Liverpool seal £84m windfall thanks to FSG bargaining behind the scenes

Andy Carroll never wanted to join Liverpool

Carroll spoke about his deadline day move to Liverpool.

The striker claims he was forced to go to Anfield and that he never really wanted to go to Merseyside, claiming that he wanted to stay and play for his local team – Newcastle.

“I was forced to go. I didn’t really want to go, I wanted to stay and play for my team,” Carroll said.

“I went from being a normal guy in Gateshead to a £35m record transfer who can’t walk out of his house. It was hard being myself, you need to change your life and your lifestyle. You couldn’t walk down the street anymore thinking you’re normal, because to everyone else you weren’t.

“I was injured at the time, it was tough to get started with the new lads who I hadn’t met, I didn’t know the staff, I didn’t know the area.”

“Brendan Rodgers came in then and he was messing me about, he clearly wanted me out.”

Andy Carroll stats for Liverpool

Carroll was seriously unsettled at Anfield, and that reflected in his game.

Indeed, Carroll did not look at all comfortable during his time at Liverpool, and that showed in terms of his goalscoring numbers.

Carroll was scoring for fun when he was at Newcastle, but as soon as he went to Liverpool, the goals dried up.

Micah Richards felt sorry for Carroll when he was at Liverpool, and it’s fair to say that things just didn’t go his way on Merseyside.

Carroll was on course to be a real superstar at Newcastle, but, sadly, the striker’s trajectory was seriously affected when he moved to Anfield.

In another world, Carroll could’ve been a star for Newcastle and England, but, as it worked out, the striker wasted a period of his career at Liverpool and he never quite got back to the level he was at during his first period at St James’ Park.