West Ham chairman David Sullivan has admitted he regrets signing Andy Carroll for a club-record £15million.
And the Hammers supremo has added to simmering tensions between the board and Sam Allardyce after contradicting his manager’s comments about Ravel Morrison.
Carroll is set to miss the next four months after suffering torn ankle ligaments and has flown to Baltimore for surgery.
It is a huge blow to Allardyce, who was desperate for his striker to stay injury-free next season.
Allardyce played a lead role in ensuring West Ham turned Carroll’s loan move from Liverpool during the 2012-13 season into a permanent deal but the striker made just 16 appearances for the Hammers last season after a series of fitness problems.
Sullivan admits that in hindsight, spending big money on Carroll, 25, was not a wise move.
‘It was desperate last year, we probably made a mistake by putting all our eggs in one basket (by signing Carroll),’ he told talkSPORT.
‘Had we known what we know now we wouldn’t have signed the player. But it’s easy to be wise after the event.‘We were assured by our physio — who has since left the club —that the player would be available for the start of the season.‘He wasn’t available until January or February. A mistake was made and we were given the wrong information.
‘We based our decision and our purchase of the player on what the medical department told us. We’ve changed everything in that department as a result of that. On his day he is a devastating and fantastic player, we’ve just got to get him back to his best.‘But at the same time we can’t start the season with the strikeforce we’ve got. I don’t think it’s good enough, there’s not enough height in it and if we get another injury, in terms of quantity, it’s insufficient, so we have to sign at least one more player.’
The club are now pressing ahead with plans to sign a new striker, with Monaco’s Lacina Traore among the names being considered.
‘We have to bring in another striker and we’re working on it now to buy one, or loan one, or both,’ Sullivan added.‘You can never have enough strikers and really with Andy gone we haven’t got enough.’
Meanwhile, the Hammers board and Allardyce appear to be at odds over Ravel Morrison’s future.
He is back at West Ham following his loan move to QPR last season. Allardyce, who was close to losing his job this summer, has said he is not part of his plans for next season, but Sullivan has contradicted his manager, saying: ‘Sam has said Ravel is not part of his plans but we do — as a board — see him as part of our plans.
‘I think he said in a press conference, if I read it correctly, he’s not part of his plans for this season.‘I think he said that in New Zealand but we don’t agree with that. We would like to sit down and give him a longer contract.’‘We do like him, we do see him as part of the long-term future of the club but we have to agree it with the manager because there’s no point signing a player he’s not going to play.’ – Daily Mail