I sold Carroll to help Saurez, say Liverpool boss

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has revealed he allowed Andy Carroll to leave the club for the benefit of star striker Luis Suarez.

The two strikers arrived at Anfield on January 31, 2011 in big-money deals after the Reds had sold their star asset Fernando Torres to Chelsea for £50m.

While Suarez has gone to become an invaluable member of Liverpool's squad, Carroll struggled with form and fitness following his £35m arrival from Newcastle.

The England international spent last season on loan at West Ham, who snapped up the 24-year-old on a permanent deal this summer.

Rodgers allowed Carroll to exit the Merseyside club as he wanted Suarez to be given a free role at Liverpool.

"I just felt it wouldn't benefit Luis because when you play with a big target man, it is hard not to make him your focal point, so everything has to be set around the big guy," said Rodgers.

"Sometimes you get sucked into doing it more direct and clearly, with my history as a coach I don't work that way.

"You look at the goals that Luis has scored in my time, there has not been too many that have been too many that have been whipped-in-crosses, which to be fair, big Andy was brilliant at.

"What we try to do here is create the environment for the elite player - and Luis is an elite player.

"We have created an environment for all our players, but obviously for him I had to make a call last year by letting Andy Carroll go out on loan.

"That created a situation where we could get the benefit of Luis' talent, but he still had to perform, and he has done that tremendously well."