West Ham were hit with a massive injury blow last month after summer signing Andriy Yarmolenko was ruled out for six months following surgery on his Achilles tendon, which he damaged in a 1-0 defeat to London rivals Tottenham.
Manager Manuel Pellegrini, however, has since been given a boost elsewhere with striker Andy Carroll close to returning from his injury.
£9m-rated (via Transfermarkt) Carroll has yet to play a competitive fixture under Pellegrini due to an ankle problem that required surgery, but his new boss has now confirmed he should be back in the first-team fold soon with the 29-year-old set to play in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Brentford this week.
“Andy is close to playing again,” Pellegrini told West Ham’s official club website. “At the start of last week he started working a little bit with the squad, not 100%, and he will work again this week. On Thursday we will play a friendly game and we’ll see if he can play some minutes.”
Looking at Carroll’s characteristics, the former Newcastle man is not the kind of forward most would associate with a Pellegrini team. With that in mind, in addition to all of his injury problems, now may be the time for the Hammers to part ways with the No.9.
Have a look at what West Ham supporters are saying on Carroll below…
Where’s Wilshere? £160k a week for these 2 crooks! Plus Chicarito that’s £300k a week on utter garbage. Yet we pay Rice £3k a week?? The club needs proper direction..hard to achieve unity with such an out of sync policy. The Nasri potential signing beggars belief!
— Joe Ashley (@realjoeashley) 12 November 2018
https://twitter.com/Matt_Greenie/status/1061917977019330560
https://twitter.com/Jfpurcell87/status/1061926644401750016
https://twitter.com/AMoCS/status/1061917901995819008
https://twitter.com/tack_hammer/status/1061941120999931905
we gonna be loaded when we get Andy's, Antonio's, and Chicharito's wages off the books.
— dan hunter (@deathcabdan) November 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/dean_deano88/status/1061929344245919746
I’m with everyone who’s frustrated with AC constant injuries …tbh our club only attracts top players who either had injury history or a bit of a maverick …some work ie Legend Di Canio but most don’t….now we are after Nasri lazy scouting Find another hungry Dean Ashton
— Mark Cooper (@MCcoops) 12 November 2018
