Monday Jan. 31 2011: a day no soccer fan will ever forget. It was the day that Andy Carroll an unproven 22-year-old striker was sold from Newcastle to Liverpool for £35 million ($54 million) to become the eighth most expensive player of all time as well as the most expensive British player of all time. This appears to be a normal transaction on the surface considering the inflation of the British transfer market in the Premier League. However upon inspection further evidence demonstrates that this is a ludicrous deal considering the fact that Carroll was playing in the Coca-Cola Championship just a few months prior to his big money transfer.
Carroll more famous for his public behavior lapses (including an alleged attack on his ex-girlfriend and an attack on a man in a nightclub) than his football skills became the most expensive British player in the history of soccer despite only one career appearance and only a few months of Premier League play.
One may ask why Liverpool owned by the shrewd John Henry and managed by Kenny Dalglish would pay such a hefty amount for such an unproven player? Much of it is due to the new philosophy Henry is trying to ingrain into the Liverpool Football Club. Carroll fits three criteria of this philosophy perfectly: New players should be young hungry for success and able to improve. As young player who is hungry for success and touted to be the next England star Carroll offers a lot of potential for Liverpool. However this potential should never have equated to £35 million. This is a ludicrous amount especially considering the fact that proven world class stars such as Edin Dzeko and David Villa cost teams far less money. One thing is for certain though and that is if Fernando Torres hadn’t completed a 50 million pound move to Chelsea later that day there is no way that Liverpool would have had the funds to purchase Carroll.
However when taking into account that Liverpool made £50 million on Fernando Torres the money paid for Andy Carroll doesn’t seem so ludicrous after all. Carroll is in fact a player that can offer Liverpool many years of service possibly becoming the next No. 9 Anfield legend. As a Reds fan I personally hope that Carroll succeeds and that I as well as thousands of other Liverpool fans am proven wrong for judging Carroll’s price tag as too high. With Liverpool’s purchase of Uruguay’s World Cup star Luis Suarez taking place only hours before the acquisition of Carroll the future looks bright for Liverpool Football Club.