Liverpool have a very good record when it comes to splashing big money in the transfer market.
It’s obviously impossible to get things right every time, but the Reds have had a much better strike rate than most over the years.
Just take a look at Liverpool’s most expensive transfers in their history. The Reds do not miss very often.
Nevertheless, high cost failures have still happened at Anfield. That’s just the nature of the business.
One of the biggest flops in Liverpool history has to be Andy Carroll. The pony-tailed striker was the Reds’ record signing when he joined from Newcastle for £35m in January 2011.
But after 58 appearances and just 11 goals for Liverpool, Carroll was out of the door only 18 months later. Almost 14 years on, and the now 35-year-old has been looking back at his time on Merseyside.
Andy Carroll has no Liverpool regrets
The time in which Carroll signed and played for Liverpool now feels like another world away.
It was not an especially good period at Anfield and although Kenny Dalglish led the Reds to two domestic cup finals in 2012, silverware was incredibly hard to come by.
With Jurgen Klopp yet to come in and truly restore the feel-good factor around the club, things were often a little bleak at Liverpool.
Carroll’s failed big money move played into that feeling and very much became a symbol of the dysfunction that seemed to reverberate at the time.
Carroll has admitted himself that he never wanted to join Liverpool in the first place and speaking to The Athletic on the subject once again, the former England striker has reiterated that stance.
“Would I rather have stayed at Newcastle? All day long, it’s my hometown club,” says Carroll.
However, the giant front man also admitted that while it was not his choice to leave Newcastle for Liverpool, he does not regret it.
“But I don’t regret going to Liverpool, I don’t regret anything,” he adds. “It turned me into who I am, it made me stronger. I wouldn’t change anything.”
Andy Carroll should revise his Liverpool opinion
While it is in some ways heartening to hear that Carroll bears no grudge towards the time he spent at Liverpool, we’d argue that he perhaps should.
Arriving as a record signing is never easy for any player to handle, but Carroll – who now plays in the fourth tier of French football with Bordeaux- seemed almost determined to make his own life difficult from the get-go.
In our opinion, the striker had the world at his feet after joining one of the biggest clubs on the planet and should look back on his failure to capitalise upon that as a hugely missed opportunity.
Carroll was clearly good enough to have more of an impact at Liverpool. His performance during the FA Cup final in 2012 almost singlehandedly wrenched the cup out of Chelsea’s grasp and into Liverpool’s.
He did well at West Ham and had he put his mind to it a little more, could have been a success with the Reds. Andy may have none, but we’ve got regrets aplenty over his Liverpool career.
