Good morning,
Unless I’ve got this wildly wrong today’s Andy Carroll piece in the Daily Mail is er… made up.
FIFA Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players, Chapter III: Registration of Players, Article 5.3 stated:
Players may be registered for a maximum of three clubs during the period from 1 July until 30 June of the following year. During this period, the player is only eligible to play in Official Matches for two clubs.
Andy Carroll came on in the 83rd minute for Borini in the Liverpool vs Manchester City game on the 26th of August. So if we did buy him it would be shall we say, an ambitious tactic to put it mildly.
Carroll is top-class aerially, and can do damage up front. His passing, however, is really poor.
AVB prefers a lone striker formation. Whoever the striker Spurs brings in better be an all-rounder too. Carroll is not going to link well with his teammates. Although he can be good at creating chances upfront, he’ll also give the ball away to the opposition way too much. He’s better suited for West Ham, where they have a team that’s geared towards taking advantage of his physical presence and knock-downs on long balls far from the back, via midfielders running around him to latch onto second balls. Spurs don’t play that way. A good player, no doubt, but a good player that is at odds with the coach’s philosophy. AVB himself has said he is certainly not the type of player Spurs are looking for during the July/August transfer window.