Are Andy Carroll and Fernando Torres Surprise £85m Deadline Day Flops?
When the monetary flood gates swung shut on a ludicrous transfer deadline day last January everybody paused to catch their breath, a deal which involved three Barclays Premier League clubs and kept neutral fans engrossed well after their usual beauty sleep time.
However since the dust has settled and we know find ourselves not so far of a year into the players moves it is time to check on their progress and how they have done in terms of their new clubs and their possible futures.
Lets us begin with Fernando Torres, who in moving Premier League clubs he broke the British transfer record and secured his feisty move to Londoners Chelsea. Let us be honest he hasn’t exactly set the world alight like Mr Abramovich had envisioned has he?
One miserable strike against a poor West Ham United last season is all he has to show (1/22 goal record) for a very high wage and transfer output. Could we even suggest he has had a phenomenal game against anybody? We are definitely past the stage where he is settling in to the club, yes there has been a change of manager but even then he should be showing a glimmer of hope, perhaps growing partnerships, Lots of assists, Winning penalties, the answer sadly is an emphatic no!
He has looked even more dire than he did before he left Liverpool, at least before he left he had scored a few goals under the newly appointed Dalglish. Hence why Abramovich probably thought he was coming back into form which persuaded him to part with a further ten million pound after Liverpool rejected Chelsea’s opening offer of forty million.
I think these bad performances are down to one particular thing, Rafael Benitez seemed to understand Torres game like nobody else, and turned him from Spanish also ran into a thorough bread. He was dismissed in la liga as someone who fails to live with pressure, this all changed as Benitez moulded a team capable of supplying the Spaniards runs and movement expertly with killer precision.
Rafa spoke to Fernando at length about what he expected from him and Torres did not disappoint. My guess would be is that although Torres will have had chats about how he plays etc, no one has tried to make him the focal point. For me Benitez and Torres was a marriage and Fernando has not gotten over it, despite the spiel that comes out of the blues public relations staff!
Conclusion: Alarm bells ringing!
As Newcastle fans awoke on deadline day yet did they have any idea they would be dragged kicking and screaming into the lime light with their new number nine and future toon legend And Carroll departing ship and adding his name to the past players and managers to stick the knife into the club just as they seem to be getting excited.
Thirty five million pound was the fee given for the Gateshead youngster, after one good championship season, half a good top flight season and one England appearance. No doubt Liverpool had their eye on Andy since the youth team days a few seasons earlier but if it not for the Torres funds of which they knew was unexpected they would not have met the asking price for Englands newest number nine. To be fair to the reds he did look very good indeed, although still probably fifteen million over his realistic valuation.
Andy is a slightly different story to Torres purely because of one important factor; he was injured when Liverpool purchased him. The club and fans waited quite a while to see him pull on the jersey and after a few fitness games although still not fully fit he scored two impressive goals against Manchester City at Anfield, linking up with Suarez and looking settled.
Since that game though he has not really built on his performance and chipped in with either assists or used his famed physicality, ending the season with a bit of a whimper after picking up another knock against Arsenal.
With a decent pre-season under his belt scoring three in six games Liverpool fans expected a fully fit Carroll to begin the new season terrorising defences.
Andy has scored one goal in a League Cup game but has not really started many league games possibly because of a lack of fitness. I think if Andy goes this full season not getting into double figures then it probably would be time for some alarm bells to start ringing. (3/13 goal record).
Conclusion: Cause for concern
