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Steve Bruce makes decision on Andy Carroll after this season ends – Report

4 years ago
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Andy Carroll will miss Sunday’s game at Arsenal.

The striker is still out injured and last started a match seven weeks ago in the home defeat to Everton, though he did make a sub appearance in the FA Cup win over Rochdale almost weeks ago.

Steve Bruce claimed at the end of the transfer window that there was no desperate need for a new striker because Andy Carroll and Dwight Gayle would be back for the Arsenal match. However, they still aren’t even back in training.

Despite Carroll’s injury blighted season (nobody saw that one coming!), it has now been revealed that Steve Bruce has made a decision on Andy Carroll for next season.

The Northern Echo report that their information is that the NUFC Head Coach has told the club that he wants them to give the striker another one year deal.

This is despite Andy Carroll only managing four Premier League starts and 508 minutes of PL football in six months. With massive question marks on exactly when he will be back and how many more games he will be involved in these next three months.

The report says that they understand that Steve Bruce also values the impact Andy Carroll has had on other players ‘and has been pleased with the Tynesider’s willingness to take summer signing Joelinton under his wing.’

This has been claimed by journalists any number of times but when Andy Carroll hasn’t scored a single Premier League goal and Joelinton, Muto and Gayle have one between them, it is difficult to get your head around exactly what positive contribution Carroll has made with his striking teammates.

It is now 22 months since Andy Carroll last scored in the league and in these lasts 25 months has only managed seven PL starts.

You have to ask that with Newcastle’s feeble goalscoring threat elsewhere, whether Andy Carroll is a luxury United can afford.

With Mike Ashley making no attempt to keep the only two goalscorers (Rondon and Perez) at the club, fans were rightly concerned when Ashley replaced them with Joelinton and Andy Carroll. Though the journalists were largely dismissive of those worries.

Supporters concerned by Carroll’s inability to even make it onto the pitch most of the time, never mind the fact he averages less than five PL goals per season since leaving St James Park back in 2010.

Whilst to compound matters, Mike Ashley was insisting Newcastle spent most of last summer’s transfer budget (media say £40m but Ashley claims £43m) on a striker whose best ever league season was eight goals in Austria.

There is no chance that Ashley will admit his disastrous mistake and consider selling Joelinton, making a very quick £25m-£30m loss.

So if indeed Newcastle went into next season with both the Brazilian and Carroll still here, they would surely have to move on Muto and Gayle, then replace them with two striker capable of scoring goals. To go into next season relying on Carroll and Joelinton for goals would be…typical Mike Ashley and invite almost certain disaster, this is assuming of course that NUFC successfully crawl safely over the safety line this time.

With Steve Bruce wanting Andy Carroll to stay, if Mike Ashley says no to another season, that would sum up just how little/non-existent say that Bruce has at the club when it comes to any important matters, if he can’t even get a year’s contract for a player.

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