Andy Carroll recalls distress over £35m Newcastle exit to Liverpool

Andy Carroll has said he did not want to leave Newcastle United for Liverpool in January 2011, despite completing the £35 million move that made him Britain’s most expensive footballer at the time.

Carroll’s Newcastle departure

In his autobiography, Owning It, Carroll describes the final stages of his Newcastle exit as deeply distressing. The striker had come through at his boyhood club but says he felt compelled to submit a transfer request before Liverpool’s deadline-day deal could be completed.

Carroll believes the request had a major financial consequence for him. He says Newcastle were able to retain 10 per cent of the £35 million fee, an amount he understood would otherwise have been due to him.

• Liverpool signed Carroll from Newcastle in January 2011 for £35 million.
• The fee made him the most expensive British player at that point.
• Carroll says he never wished to leave his hometown club.
• He claims the transfer request allowed Newcastle to keep 10 per cent of the deal’s value.

A medical he hoped would stop the move

The former England forward recalls arriving on Merseyside and going directly to Anfield for his medical examination. Rather than hoping to complete the move, he says he wanted a problem to be found so that he could return to the North East.

Carroll passed the medical without difficulty and the transfer went ahead. He was presented as a Liverpool player alongside Luis Suarez, but says he found the unveiling emotionally difficult and felt close to tears.

The deal placed Carroll under considerable expectation at Liverpool, given both the record domestic fee and the circumstances surrounding his late departure from Newcastle.

Wages and life away from football

Carroll also addresses the effect that rising earnings had on his behaviour away from the game. He says he had been sensible when earning £2,500 a week, but his increased income led to a more reckless social routine.

He recalls spending money in bars, casinos and strip clubs, including buying drinks for groups around him. Carroll acknowledges that such behaviour was likely to bring problems when carried out by a high-profile footballer in public places.

Carroll’s current role

Carroll now plays for Dagenham and Redbridge in the National League South and is also a co-owner of the club alongside YouTuber KSI. His playing career has moved far from the Premier League spotlight, but the release of his autobiography has returned attention to one of English football’s most dramatic transfer sagas.