According to the Sunday Post, Celtic have been sensationally linked with West Ham United forward Andy Carroll for a possible January move. Brendan Rodgers had earlier claimed that he might look to sign two strikers in January and it remains to be seen whether one of that move is going to be for this former Liverpool striker.
The 29-year-old’s career has been injury plagued in the past few seasons, and as a result, he hasn’t been able to contribute much to the cause at the London Stadium. However, when fit, the 6ft4inch forward has shown his qualities and has come up with the goods more often than not. When up and running, Carroll can be termed as one of the best target men in the Premier League.
In his absence, the likes of Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez have been filling in for him so it would be interesting to see whether he would be able to get back his place now that he is fit. Celtic though are in desperate need of a striker after Moussa Dembele departed on the final day of the summer transfer window and Leigh Griffiths not too long ago, decided to take some time off football for an indefinite period.
Reports from the Sunday Post also add that the Hoops have been linked with Jermaine Defoe as well and the Glaswegian giants would look to pull off at least one of these two marquee signings. Given the current situation, we feel Defoe might be a more plausible option as Bournemouth can look to offload him on loan.
The major obstacle is going to be the financial element as it is expected that the English striker would be on massive wages at West Ham. It is not yet clear how Celtic would manage to pull off this deal, so we think at the moment this is just a rumour to fill the papers.
In terms of ability, Carroll could do a fantastic job in the Premiership, but for that, he would need to stay fit. Given the striker’s track record with injuries in the past few seasons, it wouldn’t make sense for the Hoops to sign him. He is already 29, therefore it is unlikely that the striker would have much of a resale value and Carroll isn’t likely to come in for cheap.
The Hoops should have a decent amount of money to spend in January after they sold Dembele for £20m and they should look for a much younger striker who can be a regular at Park Head for years to come. As for now, we don’t see this move for the English forward going through next month.
