Liverpool 1 Hearts 1:WEST HAM United have signed Andy Carroll on a season-long loan after Liverpool's desperation to remove the striker from their wage bill saw them drop demands for a €22 million transfer should Sam Allardyce's team avoid relegation.
Liverpool, who last night qualified for the Europa League group stage with a 2-1 aggregate defeat of Hearts, allowed the most expensive English footballer in history to leave on loan in the absence of any permanent offers ahead of the transfer deadline. Carroll’s departure just 19 months on from a €45 million move from Newcastle United saves Liverpool over €5 million as West Ham have agreed to pay his €101,000-weekly wage.
Brendan Rodgers hopes the saving will allow him to bolster a strike-force that amounts to Luis Suarez, Fabio Borini and the 18-year-old Adam Morgan ahead of today’s transfer deadline. The Liverpool manager made it clear to Carroll he did not fit in with his plans within days of moving to Anfield from Swansea City. The England international had refused to consider joining West Ham, Fulham or Aston Villa while Newcastle failed to offer a permanent transfer. Rodgers was also against Carroll’s former club re-signing the centre-forward on loan.
“It is very simple: the club made a monumental investment in big Andy and at this moment he’s not playing,” the Liverpool manager said last night. “He made it very clear from when we first met in the summer that he wants to play games and obviously [with the window closing] this is the last chance for him to go and do that.”
West Ham initially offered a €2.6 million loan fee plus a guaranteed €22 million should they avoid relegation from the Premier League this season. The eventual deal is a loan fee of €1.9m with an option to buy Carroll next summer, not a guarantee.
Morgan made his full debut against Hearts on the right of an attack led by Suarez. The Liverpool team was far stronger than in the first leg but the end product was the same, a laboured performance struggling to break a resilient team prior to a rousing finale.
Morgan thought he had the dream full debut when tapping Suarez’s low cross into an empty net but the boyhood Liverpudlian’s joy was ended by an assistant’s flag. The Uruguayan had taken the ball out of play. Hearts screamed for a penalty when Callum Paterson tumbled under a touch from Jamie Carragher. The Russian referee waved play on. Marius Zaliukas cleared a goalbound Suarez header clear of his line and Jamie MacDonald saved well from Steven Gerrard either side of the interval.
Just as the Liverpool threat was growing Jose Reina made a dreadful error to allow David Templeton to level the tie on aggregate. The Hearts midfielder’s shot from 22 yards was straight at the Spain international but it squirmed through his grasp and trickled over the line. His reprieve came through Suarez, when he drove Liverpool into the group stage via the inside of MacDonald’s near post.
LIVERPOOL: Reina; Kelly, Carragher, Skrtel, Downing; Allen, Shelvey, Gerrard; Morgan (Sterling, 62), Henderson (Borini, 76), Suarez.
HEARTS: MacDonald; Grainger, McGowan, Barr, Webster, Templeton, Sutton (Driver, 66), Taouil, Novikovas (Carrick, 75), Zaliukas, Paterson.
Referee: Vladislav Bezborodov (Russia)
