'I hoped to fail my medical while I was signing for Liverpool - but I don't regret anything'

There isn’t a more memorable deadline-day signing in Liverpool history.

Arthur Melo’s surprise arrival in the summer of 2022 came as a surprise. The midfielder made just one appearance during a lamentable loan spell in an insipid season by the standards legendary manager Jurgen Klopp set. Meanwhile, Paul Konchesky still gives Kopites shudders after he was recruited in 2010. The left-back lasted a total of six months at Anfield during Roy Hodgson’s ill-fated period as manager.

But the signing of Andy Carroll is still the one that springs to mind when Reds supporters are asked to name players who have joined on the final day of transfer windows gone by. As Liverpool prepare to face Newcastle United in the Premier League tonight, Carroll’s £35 million switch in January 2011 is almost synonymous with the two teams. Perhaps it’s not as synonymous as Martin Tyler’s commentary of ‘Collymore closing in’ during a 4-3 win in 1996, which left Toon manager Kevin Keegan infamously hanging his head on a return to Merseyside, as the Magpies’ Premier League title bid hit the buffers.

However, when the Reds face Newcastle, Carroll’s name is frequently mentioned during pre-match chinwags. It was because the transfer came as a shock - especially the fee involved. The 21-year-old Magpies academy product had helped spearhead his boyhood club back to the top flight in the 2009-2010 campaign, scoring 19 goals. He continued his remarkable upward trajectory in the Premier League, plundering 11 goals in just 19 games - one of his strikes being a long-ranger against Liverpool in a 3-1 win.

That prompted the Reds to ramp up their interest in the January transfer window. Kop legend Kenny Dalglish, who had replaced Hodgson in the Anfield hot seat, had already signed Luis Suarez from Ajax. But a £50 million bid for Fernando Torres from Chelsea was accepted and a replacement was needed - with Carroll identified.

After having £30 million rebuffed by Newcastle, the offer was increased to £35 million, which was a club record and the highest-ever price for a British player at the time. The scramble was on for Carroll to get his deal done by the 11pm deadline and the centre-forward travelled to Merseyside via then-Magpies owner Mike Ashley’s helicopter.

But after signing on the dotted line, it proved a forgettable move. Newcastle got by far the better end of the deal, with Carroll nowhere near replicating the form he displayed in the North East. He made a total of 58, scoring 11 goals. The highlight was scoring the winner in a 2-1 triumph over Everton in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

When Carroll was loaned to West Ham in 2012, making that switch permanent the following summer for £15 million, it was scarcely a surprise. His career never returned to the heights of when he was running amok as a 21-year-old playing for the club he always dreamed of. Carroll returned to Newcastle in 2019 but struggled before having two spells with Reading and a period at West Brom. In fairness, he is enjoying his football again after moving to France. After representing Amiens, he now finds himself at Bordeaux, who were relegated to the fourth tier because of financial woes.

And when speaking to L’Equipe in October 2023, he confessed that at the time he did not want to join Liverpool and couldn’t understand why he was being sold. "From the moment Liverpool made this incredible bid on deadline day, I found myself in a helicopter, without really understanding why,” said Carroll. “As I was injured, I remember hoping to fail my medical. This helped me grow up by taking me out of my comfort zone because I knew nothing about life and football, apart from Newcastle."

However, in an interview earlier this year, the 35-year-old has no regrets about his big-money move. “I began to feel the media glare more when I left Newcastle,” Carroll told the Athletic. “At Newcastle, I was settled, I had my setup; my family, my friends, my routine. That was all I knew. I remember being in the helicopter on the way across to Liverpool feeling lost, not knowing what to expect.

“When I went to Liverpool, obviously the fee and everything… I was still only 21, had never left Newcastle, was told to pack up my life and go across there, and then it didn’t start well. The media were a lot different and I was in the spotlight on a grander scale.

“Would I rather have stayed at Newcastle? All day long, it’s my hometown club. But I don’t regret going to Liverpool, I don’t regret anything. It turned me into who I am, it made me stronger. I wouldn’t change anything.”