Magpies’ Carroll swoop fails
It is understood the approach fell short of Liverpool’s demands.
The Reds are reluctant to allow Carroll to leave on a temporary basis, despite manager Brendan Rodgers’s admission a loan move is an option.
Sources close to 23-year-old England striker Carroll maintain his preferred option is to remain at Anfield to try to prove himself to Rodgers.
If he does not fit into Rodgers’s plans, with no club willing to offer Liverpool a significant portion of the £35 million (€44m) transfer fee they paid Newcastle for Carroll in January 2011, the Reds may be forced into reluctantly settling for a short-term deal.
They may also have to cover the forward’s £80,000 per week salary and agree a fee for any sale.
Newcastle have no immediate need to strengthen their hand in the striking department, although they spent the early part of the summer wooing FC Twente’s Luuk de Jong, although found the asking price too rich.
However, the spectre of the release clause in Demba Ba’s contract makes him vulnerable, at least until the end of this month, although Pardew insisted last week that there had been no contact with any club over any of his key men.
But Ba and Papiss Cisse could be required by Senegal for the African Nations Cup, while Leon Best and Peter Lovenkrands have left the club, so reinforcements will be required at some point and Carroll is viewed as a decent option.
Dimitar Berbatov, meanwhile, believes it would be “better for everyone” if he left Manchester United this summer.
Berbatov’s four-year stay at Old Trafford looks to be coming to a close after he found himself outside manager Alex Ferguson’s first-team plans last season.
The 31-year-old managed just 12 league appearances last term, scoring seven goals, a year after he was the Premier League’s equal top scorer.
It is a scenario that Berbatov revealed had frustrated him in a post on his official Facebook page yesterday afternoon.
In it Berbatov hinted he had given up hope of remaining at United, despite admitting he would like to see out his the final year of his deal.
“The truth is, I love this club, but I am not going to be useful to anyone if I am not playing. And I want to play, I want to help,” he wrote.
“But for unknown reasons it’s not going to happen, or my chances will be limited, so it’s better for everyone if we say goodbye.
“If not, I am professional and I will keep doing everything I can to help my team and my team-mates, whenever I have opportunity to do so.”
A host of clubs are apparently already circling to acquire the services of a player who cost United £30m when he signed from Tottenham four years ago.
Reports have suggested that United have slapped a price tag of £10m on Berbatov’s head, although the striker claimed Ferguson had told him the figure was half of that amount.
“Because I am tired of speculation, I am telling you this,” he wrote. “I read the papers and I see they say £10 million is my price. I go and talk with Sir Alex, and he says to me five million. So who is telling the truth, what do you think?”
Berbatov has scored 48 league goals at United, helping them to two Premier League titles, but his Old Trafford future has been in doubt since he was left out of the squad for the 2010-11 Champions League final against Barcelona at Wembley.
Last season he found himself behind Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez in the pecking order, although he served a reminder of his class with a hat-trick against Wigan on St Stephen’s Day.
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