Ever since Andy Carroll was sold to Liverpool for an eye-watering £35 million in a shock deal during the final hours of the transfer window in January 2011, there have been rumours of him making a St James' Park return.

As early as 16 months after he left, there was talk of The Magpies trying a cheeky loan bid for their former player.

When he was eventually moved on to West Ham, still the speculation persisted, even as recently as this January, with talk, again, of a loan deal until the end of the season.

And now there are rumours that Manuel Pellegrini will let him leave on a free this summer, with the Newcastle Chronicle suggesting that his boyhood club could have "one final chance" to re-sign him.

It seems that because he is a Geordie, and a life-long Newcastle fan, that he is a certainty to return to the club.

Well so are Ant and Dec, Sting and Jimmy Nail, but no one is expecting them to pull on the black and white shirt!

The phrase never go back has never been so apt as it has for Carroll, with Rafa Benitez --- or whoever is in charge in the summer --- surely not tempted to sign him.

The reasons to avoid are numerous: His £90,000 a week salary; his injury issues; his age --- he is now 30-years-old; and his lack of goal-scoring.

If anyone at St James' Park thinks he would be a better option, up front than Salomón Rondón, then they should be taking a long look at themselves.

The worry, of course, is that Mike Ashley may see the chance to bring a player in for nothing --- particularly one he sold for a massively over-priced £35m --- as a way of keeping costs down in his usual misguided vision of what might keep fans off his back.

Of course, on the flip-side, he is way out of the owner's preferred age limit for signings, and it is highly unlikely that he would end up back on Tyneside, with the MLS his most likely destination.

It is insulting to the Geordie fans to keep constantly pushing his name down their throats, and more insulting that people actually think this is something they crave --- it is not!

The lack of ambition such a signing would purvey would be as huge as the inflated fee they received for him eight years ago.

What do you think of the latest in a series of stories about bringing Carroll back to St James' Park, Newcastle fans? Would you want him? Let us know...