Sunderland’s boss, Steve Bruce, reveals that he made a bid for Andy Carroll while at Wigan Athletic
Sunderland’s manager, Steve Bruce, has revealed that he failed to sign Andy Carroll from Newcastle United while he was in-charge at Wigan Athletic three seasons ago. The Black Cats’ manager claimed that Newcastle United’s then manager, Joe Kinnear, demanded
£4.5 million for Carroll but the deal fell off as Wigan Athletic could only afford £2.5m.
Steve Bruce said, “Andy Carroll could quite easily have ended up being my player. When I was Wigan manager, we were hammering Newcastle 2-0 but they brought him on and he played well - really well. He made a h**l of a difference. On the Monday morning I
rang up Joe Kinnear and asked him if he would sell Andy. They quoted me £4.5m and I seriously thought about it, but in the end we could only go to £2.5m. I had http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Emile-Heskey-c12468 at the time as well and I did wonder if he and Carroll would work together up front”.
Andy Carroll became the most expensive British player and the eight most expensive footballer in the world when he was signed by Liverpool for £35million on the deadline day of 2011’s January transfer window.
The 22-year-old striker was signed as a replacement for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 on the same evening.
Carroll, who was suffering from an injury when he was transferred to Liverpool, is yet to feature for full ninety minutes for the Reds.
However, the towering striker gave a substitute appearance in Liverpool’s Premier League win over Manchester United.
The former Newcastle United player also played few minutes in Liverpool’s defeat against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sporting-89-c40576 Braga in the Europa League.
However, Carroll is poised to make his full Liverpool debut in the club’s Premier League match against Sunderland and Steve Bruce claims that the English striker will surely be a threat to the Black Cats.
Bruce said, “I'm sure Andy will make his full Premier League debut against us although I hope the niggle he has lasts for a bit longer. That will present a challenge both to him and to us. I honestly wish him the best of luck. He is the old-fashioned British
No 9 and it will be interesting to see how he does and how he manages for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809. He has got a wonderful opportunity and I am sure he has a fantastic future because he is so different”.
Carroll is yet to open his account at Anfield but the English striker has already scored 11 goals in the League while playing for Newcastle United in the first half of the season.
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