Andy Carroll controversially left Newcastle United to join Liverpool 15 years ago.
Kevin Nolan has revealed Andy Carroll did not want to controversially leave Newcastle United in January 2011.
A bombshell deadline day resulted in the Magpies offloading their prized asset to Liverpool - a profound feeling for Toon fans to this day given the Alexander Isak saga. Just weeks earlier, Carroll had penned a bumper contract extension at St James’ Park.
Newcastle copped a British record £35million fee for their academy product, with fans left seething as he recently claimed the iconic No.9 shirt. However, former captain Nolan has explained how torn Carroll was about leaving his boyhood club.
Kevin Nolan on Andy Carroll transfer
“He (Carroll) didn't want to go, he didn't want to leave,” Nolan told The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast. “They (Newcastle) were just like, ‘No, we've got £35million’. I remember sitting with him, he'd come to my house. Everyone was looking for him and he kept getting calls. I was talking to him, it was like £29million… £31 million, and I'm like, ‘What for him?’
“We had a really good six months. We'd been good (together) in the Premier League, terrorised a few and we were getting a nice little partnership. It was taken away… and we had a good squad.
“With Andy, he was leaving mine to go and get on the helicopter (to Liverpool). He said ‘I don't want to go’. He was a Newcastle lad and wanted to be a Newcastle legend, to wear the Newcastle No.9 for years. Obviously, the scrutiny of the £35million, going to Liverpool, different mentality, not being around your family and friends and everything else… it was difficult for him.
“He moved with his then-girlfriend and I think he found that difficult. The transition of being there (Liverpool) and not having the support system that he would have had in Newcastle.”
Andy Carroll confirms Kevin Nolan story
Carroll told The Daily Mail in 2019 - after re-signing for Newcastle - that he hoped to fail his Liverpool medical. He said: “I was injured at the time and all I'm thinking is, ‘Please, just fail the medical’. The minute I got on that helicopter I wanted to come back. I knew it had to happen. Whatever age, I needed to walk back on that pitch and play for Newcastle again.
“I remember leaving here (Newcastle's training ground) in Kevin Nolan's car because loads of people were outside. We went to his house and watched it on TV. I was like, ‘I'm not going’. I'd just bought a house and a cat the day before! But then I was told, ‘You're going’ and that was that.’ I would have rather stayed at the time and all the way to the helicopter I'm thinking, ‘What is happening? What am I doing?’.
“But looking back, and how it shaped me as a player and a person, I would honestly still do it. I probably needed to get out of the city to grow up.”
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