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Opinion

Andy Carroll has now definitely left Newcastle United…probably

3 years ago
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Increasingly, the only thing you can be absolutely sure about at Newcastle United, is disappointment.

Mike Ashley and his minions seemingly hell bent on a mission to keep Newcastle fans in the dark about pretty much everything, for as long as possible.

Even the most mundane non-controversial stuff Ashley doesn’t feel obliged to show any ‘transparency’ with, let alone the club accounts from two seasons ago (2019/20) that the NUFC owner has further delayed in going public with. Despite every other Premier League club having done so, most of them a long long time ago.

No surprise that Mike Ashley and his people haven’t communicated anything at all to us on new signings, as 39 days into the transfer window there still isn’t a single one.

However, Newcastle United are even reluctant / refusing to even confirm whether Andy Carroll has left St James Park.

Back in August 2019 when Andy Carroll was signed as a free agent, Steve Bruce declared: ‘To bring a local hero like Andy back to Newcastle United is fantastic.’

Yet with the club refusing to confirm or deny whether Andy Carroll is indeed still a Newcastle player or not, when interviewed at the start of this week for the first time since the end of last season, Steve Bruce passed up the chance to give any clarity on the Andy Carroll situation.

Dwight Gayle and Andy Carroll (four Premier League starts each in 2020/21) were all but totally ignored by Steve Bruce last season, including when towards the end of the season Bruce preferred to play with no striker at all when Wilson and Joelinton were injured, rather than give Carroll or Gayle a game. So it looked a certainty that the 32 and 31 year olds would both leave this summer when their contracts ended.

However, never say never with Mike Ashley.

With a refusal to make funds available to bring in the essential signings this summer, especially when it comes to scoring goals, we have had the very bizarre news of Ashley handing Dwight Gayle a new three year contract, which takes him up to just short of him turning 35!

As for Andy Carroll, he has scored only one Premier League goal in the last 39 months so surely even Mike Ashley wouldn’t be handing him yet another one year deal….

Yet only last month the Chronicle stated as fact that contrary to Mike Ashley and Steve Bruce supposedly wanting Andy Carroll to leave, their information was the direct opposite.

The newspaper stating that Carroll was offered yet another one year extension at the end of the season and asked to consider it whilst on holiday.

The newspaper saying the club and player were set for talks when Andy Carroll returned from holiday.

Nothing more was ever heard, certainly not from the club.

Only Andy Carroll’s absence from training photos released by the club has suggested / confirmed(?) that the striker has indeed left. Although the likes of Clark, Shelvey and the Longstaff brothers were also totally absent from pre-season without any club explanation, before finally they appeared in club released photos towards the end of this second week of pre-season.

Now however, The Times are claiming a definitive update on Andy Carroll…

‘Andy Carroll is searching for a new club after being told he will not be offered another contract to return to Newcastle United.

The former England forward signed a 12-month extension to stay at St James’ Park last summer and had been hopeful of agreeing a further renewal of that deal.

Newcastle have given new contracts to a cluster of existing squad members over recent weeks, however Carroll has been told his second spell at the club is now over.

The 32-year-old will instead begin the search for a new club, and is said to be open to the possibility of coaching.’

So there you have it, probably…

So is Yoshinori Muto (also with only one Premier League goal in the past 39 months and indeed his entire life) going to be ‘like a new signing’ and ‘flying in training’ ahead of the new season, as Carroll’s replacement, with Newcastle now a striker short?

Or indeed, will belatedly Andy Carroll be signed yet again and be paraded as a new signing once more by Newcastle United?

It is all exciting stuff and still the club refuse to say whether Andy Carroll has actually left or not.

It is almost as though nothing is actually happening at the club and nobody cares…certainly not anybody in any level of (relative) responsibility such as Bruce or Charnley.

Just a club drifting along and heading into this new season with relegation battle stamped all over it.

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