OPINION
Andy Carroll has to leave West Ham in the summer as he has become a toxic presence on a team that doesn’t need any negativity surrounding it.
The 6ft 4in tall forward, who earns £90,000-a-week according to the Daily Telegraph, was looking likely to be binned by David Moyes in the summer window.
The Times previously reported that if Moyes stayed on as Hammers manager, the Scot would look to get rid of Carroll and Javier Hernandez as part of a summer clearout.
Sky Sports reported on Monday that Moyes was “unlikely” to remain as Hammers boss following talks with the club’s board, only for the Evening Standard to later report that there was chance he would stay.
However even though it is currently unknown who will be in the Hammers dugout next season, it remains true that the club need to get Carroll as far away from the London Stadium as possible.
The 29-year-old forward not only failed to deliver goals in the season that has just concluded, scoring only three in 18 outings, but it was clear that he was a toxic presence.
Carroll had a well documented bust-up with Moyes over being left on the bench during the 4-1 defeat to Manchester City, as reported by the Mirror, and at that time, the club were facing the real threat of relegation.
While some may admire his passion to play, a team needs to band together in the face of adversary, not put their own personal ambitions first.
Carroll’s selfish attitude was of no help to the team and it wasn’t the first time he potentially risked having a poisonous effect on the team in his latest campaign.
The forward went public with his frustrations over a lack of playing time in January, despite hardly meriting a first-place with his performances.
“It’s been very frustrating, I’ve been sitting on the bench – it’s been tough,” admitted Carroll, as quoted by the Daily Mirror.
“It’s hard when you’re coming on for the last 20 minutes, when I have been I have probably been making an impact but it’s not really what I want to do, I don’t want to be an impact player coming off the bench.”
Carroll then suffered an injury and was unavailable anyway, but venting his frustration to the media didn’t exactly put the club’s best interests first.
Therefore with the Hammers needing to do better next season, and a positive atmosphere clearly be something that would help them, Carroll must be driven out of the club this summer no matter who the manager is.
