£4m for Carroll?

[merlin]

Back in 1968, we had a 21 year old left winger called Geoff Allen - he had shown promise as a younger player but never really showed his true potential.

 

One night, in September 68., he tore Van Der Heide, Feyenoord's International right back apart in Newcastle's first Fairs Cup game and despite all the pundits' pessimism, we won 4-0.

 

It was the foundation for the club's first(and only) European trophy win and Allen went on to show just what a great player he was going to be until he was cruelly whacked at Notts Forest by a desperate tackle from Peter Hindley, who he was crucifying in the same way as he did Van Der Heide...

In those days, cruciate ligament injuries meant the end, and although Allen tried(like Tony Green)to come back, he couldn't.

 

The point I am making is that Carroll, at 20, is too young to be yet judged a failure - a different player to Allen, but nevertheless may have just as much potential.

 

I wouldn't write him off until he was 25 - look how many chances Ameobi was given at his age....

[Mowen]

I'd keep Carroll even though I don't think he's actually worth £4m yet. Partly because I think he's very important to us going up and partly because I want to see what he can become here. This season will be massive in terms of his development, he'll learn a lot leading the line and learning how to play first team football week-in week-out. To break him in against worse but arguably more physical defences should hopefully teach him some cunning as it looks like he has all the physical attributes if he can learn how to use them properly. As another point, how often do you see a target man style striker really break through at a young age? Usually it's the smaller, quicker strikers who burst onto the scene sub-21.

 

Also, bit romantic, but I like having a local lad or two in the team / squad. I wouldn't be overly disappointed to have him at 3rd/4th choice striker in the PL.

[Jayson]

Back in 1968, we had a 21 year old left winger called Geoff Allen - he had shown promise as a younger player but never really showed his true potential.

 

One night, in September 68., he tore Van Der Heide, Feyenoord's International right back apart in Newcastle's first Fairs Cup game and despite all the pundits' pessimism, we won 4-0.

 

It was the foundation for the club's first(and only) European trophy win and Allen went on to show just what a great player he was going to be until he was cruelly whacked at Notts Forest by a desperate tackle from Peter Hindley, who he was crucifying in the same way as he did Van Der Heide...

In those days, cruciate ligament injuries meant the end, and although Allen tried(like Tony Green)to come back, he couldn't.

 

The point I am making is that Carroll, at 20, is too young to be yet judged a failure - a different player to Allen, but nevertheless may have just as much potential.

 

I wouldn't write him off until he was 25 - look how many chances Ameobi was given at his age....

 

Agree with this. Hes young, its his first season in the first team. He is learning still, he has lots of time to do so. He'll learn as he plays for England also. Ive no idea how anyone could possibly seriously think themselves able to determine Carrolls ability to never be good enough for the prem at this point. He's shown he can finish very well with foot and head, so its not that he doesnt have the ability. Its that he probably doesnt get enough chances to put away, which will be down to how much the team sets up & down to his movement. Again, he'll learn to improve his movement over time as he learns to lift the standard of his game to find space against the better defenders.

 

Outside of that, he's already scored goals in the prem for us last season with the worst performing Newcastle team possible. So the whole argument is just a bit ludicrous anyway.