Liverpool hero Jamie Carragher believes that Andy Carroll’s £35m valuation had a major impact on his failure at Anfield.

The burly Geordie is set to face his former club for the first time since making a permanent switch to West Ham later today, in a game that is a must win for the Reds in the hunt for the title.

Carroll was regarded as one of English football’s top talents prior to his ill-fated 2011 transfer, when he became a record buy for the Merseyside club.

His £35m price tag appeared to weigh heavy, with the now Hammers idol enduring a tough spell under the guidance of then manager Kenny Dalglish.

In the build up to the game at Upton Park many have been speculating that he may come back to prove himself to his former club, and Carragher – who played alongside the powerful front-man – believes that the pressure of the fee to get him to Liverpool was detrimental to his time at the club:

“If we could have got him for between £12-15m, it would have been good business. The feeling around the club when we were in for him was that maybe he could mature into our Didier Drogba.” He wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.

“Unfortunately, though, Liverpool’s decision to pay £35m was a big mistake and it never did Andy any favours,

“It quickly became apparent he wasn’t the right fit for the club.”

Carragher went on to say that Carroll’s playing style and work ethic also contributed to the botched spell:

“In training, he’d complain if the ball was not flung into the box — and I don’t mean from out wide,

“He wanted the ball to come in to him from close to the halfway line, but at Liverpool that was never going to happen.

“There were other things. He found the intensity of playing three games every week difficult.

“Before he might have been used to getting himself right for a match on a Saturday, then spending time socially with his mates — as we all did when we were young — but at Liverpool the training and professional demands are relentless.”

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