Am I a £35m striker?

[James.]

I scored 24 goals helping my side win promotion back to the Premier League aged just 22.
In my first season in the top flight I had 15 goals by the end of Jan. Including a goal against the reigning champions, away at Arsenal and in a home win vs Liverpool. My form earned me an England call-up and debut in a friendly....
Am a I £35m striker?

No I am Michael Ricketts, February 2002

[3pm]

That's why Carroll had to move.

[Springbank]

Put another way, when you've got a wayward striker, who scores on the pitch but is in bother off it, you need to sell while the going's good.

See Duncan Ferguson, David Goodwillie etc

Bet Ashley couldn't believe his luck.

[BEEJ]

Potential buyer comes knocking on the door with £50m in their back pocket and needing to buy a high profile striker in a little more than a week. You happen to have one and by good fortune he's been playing quite well this season.

An opportunistic sale. He's massively over-priced.

(And to think we would have parted with Colin Nish for just £1.5m!)

[Woody1985]

I read that he's the 8th most expensive player ever.



Does anyone know how foreign media in Spain, Italy etc reacted to this?

[MrRobot]

He is a good player through.

[iwasthere1972]

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I read that he's the 8th most expensive player ever.



Does anyone know how foreign media in Spain, Italy etc reacted to this?

How you say who in Spanish and Italian?

There's no way that he's worth that much. I would've put him in the £10m-£15m bracket but as Liverpool had £50m for Torres and Newcastle knew that they had to get someone in super quick to replace him then they could name their price.

I also think that his value soared due to the fact that he only made one international appearance for England. It's the way forward. The less you turn out for Engerlund the more you are worth.

I'll give him one season at Liverpool before he is transfer listed and moved on at a large financial loss.

[Zazu62]

Andy Carroll is a battering ram, him and saurez will be a fantastic partnership IMO.

[Sylar]

He can hardly be called a "great" player yet. Christ, he's had 6 months at the top level and isn't averaging a goal a game.

He certainly has potential to be great, and I think he will score for Liverpool but £35 million?! Christ, I must be worth a couple of million based on the stupid levels of inflation in their transfer fees down there!

Ronaldo - £80 million - Man Utd to Real Madrid
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - £60.7 million - Inter to Barcelona
Kaka - £56 million - AC Milan to Real Madrid
Torres - £50 million - Liverpool to Chelsea
Zizou - £45.6 million - Juventus to Real Madrid
Figo - £37 million - Barcelona to Real Madrid
Crespo - £35.5 million - Parma to Lazio
Carroll - £35 million - Newcastle to Liverpool
Villa - £34.2 million - Valencia to Barcelona
Buffon - £32.6 million - Parma to Juventus

He's certainly not deserving to have his name included in THAT list of some of the recently best players in the world.

[joe breezy]

It's relative.

Torres isn't a £50million player but that's what Liverpool got so they have used the money to buy a combination that cost a bit more than Torres but in my opinion Suarez and Carrol combined is better value than a lone Torres.

If Liverpool end up 3 places higher than they may have been they get millions more anyway don't they?

It's like when Holloway was talking about Charlie Adams worth, Blackpool get £46 million or something to stay up so what's he worth?

[Green_one]

Doubt he is worth £35M but Liverpool had to quickly sign a striker. Who else would they get?

The guy has potential. He is no Torres but neither are 98% of strikers

[The Hurricane]

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He can hardly be called a "great" player yet. Christ, he's had 6 months at the top level and isn't averaging a goal a game.

He certainly has potential to be great, and I think he will score for Liverpool but £35 million?! Christ, I must be worth a couple of million based on the stupid levels of inflation in their transfer fees down there!

Ronaldo - £80 million - Man Utd to Real Madrid
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - £60.7 million - Inter to Barcelona
Kaka - £56 million - AC Milan to Real Madrid
Torres - £50 million - Liverpool to Chelsea
Zizou - £45.6 million - Juventus to Real Madrid
Figo - £37 million - Barcelona to Real Madrid
Crespo - £35.5 million - Parma to Lazio
Carroll - £35 million - Newcastle to Liverpool
Villa - £34.2 million - Valencia to Barcelona
Buffon - £32.6 million - Parma to Juventus

He's certainly not deserving to have his name included in THAT list of some of the recently best players in the world.

Better than Crespo IMHO but price tag will not be justified in this case I'm afraid.

[FromTheCapital]

Who would your rather have, David Villa or Andy Carroll.

I know it won't be loads to them but in our wee land, £800k is a big difference...

[FromTheCapital]

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Doubt he is worth £35M but Liverpool had to quickly sign a striker. Who else would they get?

The guy has potential. He is no Torres but neither are 98% of strikers

Messi is 1% of them then.....

[al bundy]

I think the boy will do really well at liverpool, he could be englands main striker in years to come.

[Sylar]

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Better than Crespo IMHO but price tag will not be justified in this case I'm afraid.

Crespo has played for some of the top clubs on the planet and amassed 271 goals (I'm amazed to note he's still playing actually - younger than I thought he was).

He will possibly be a decent striker, but he'll need to a) get rid of his off-field issues and b) find his feet quickly at Liverpool - I imagine such a high price tag will put a bit of pressure on the guy.

[Woody1985]

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Better than Crespo IMHO but price tag will not be justified in this case I'm afraid.

Better than Crespo after 19 games in the EPL.

[TonyStokeprano]

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Better than Crespo IMHO but price tag will not be justified in this case I'm afraid.

Maybe he'll be better than crespo when he scores 43 goals in europe, or 35 goals for his country.

[The Hurricane]

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Maybe he'll be better than crespo when he scores 43 goals in europe, or 35 goals for his country.

He certainly has the potential to do that anyway, just my opinion, was never impressed by Crespo when he was at Chelsea.

[iwasthere1972]

Great Train Robbery
Brinks Mat Robbery


That's all.

[Woody1985]

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He certainly has the potential to do that anyway, just my opinion, was never impressed by Crespo when he was at Chelsea.

I wasn't impressed with Sheva at Chelsea so Carroll must be better than him as well. Crespo, like many others went there for the money/forced out their clubs for the money when it was Chelsea throwing around all the cash.

Different style of play and the motivation mainly being cash = underperfoming.

He may have the potential to be better than Crespo but he's not better than him now. My memory of Crespo is a naturally gifted finisher who was immense in the box.

[Green_one]

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Messi is 1% of them then.....

Messi is a god, not a striker


Too wee for the SPL though

[Phil D. Rolls]

I am not a 35m striker and neither is my wife.

[Hank Schrader]

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Maybe he'll be better than crespo when he scores 43 goals in europe, or 35 goals for his country.

To suggest he is better than Hernan Crespo is a pretty bold statement in my opinion.

[Speedy]

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Doubt he is worth £35M but Liverpool had to quickly sign a striker. Who else would they get?

The guy has potential. He is no Torres but neither are 98% of strikers

Suarez?

[Future17]

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Torres isn't a £50million player but that's what Liverpool got so they have used the money to buy a combination that cost a bit more than Torres but in my opinion Suarez and Carrol combined is better value than a lone Torres.

I'd argue that Carroll and Suarez will be a better combination than Torres and Suarez would have been....and a £15m profit.

[Ritchie]

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I'd argue that Carroll and Suarez will be a better combination than Torres and Suarez would have been....and a £15m profit.

i thought it would have been more logical to combine suarez &.... N'gog .... and a £50m profit...... or maybe not.

[Al_Bundy]

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I think the boy will do really well at liverpool, he could be englands main striker in years to come.

Are you me in the future?

[Future17]

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i thought it would have been more logical to combine suarez &.... N'gog .... and a £50m profit...... or maybe not.

To be fair, there was probably a very good argument for playing Suarez and N'gog until the end of the season, maybe trying to bring in a decent back-up on a 6-month loan, and waiting until the summer to sign Torres' replacement.

That way they could have spent 6 months spreading stories about who they were interested in signing, monitored Carroll's development some more and potentially got him cheaper if they still wanted to buy him then, when Newcastle didn't have them over a barrel.

I guess what convinced them to spend now is the prospect of CL football (which they are only 9 points away from) or at least ensuring EL football next season and the prospect of dwindling attendances/lynch mobs at Anfield.

[Reaper]

Liverpool are my English team and I'm happy with the outcome. I do like most football folk concede however that 35m was overpriced but then so was 50m for Torres. If it had been the summer you could have cut both figures almost in half. Probably 30m Torres, 15-20m for Carroll.