Former West Ham United striker Dean Ashton has said that Hammers frontman Andy Carroll will surely be pondering the future of his football career.
The 30-year-old has seen his time in east London decimated by injuries and Ashton, as a victim of a career ending setback himself, is sympathetic to the big Geordie’s plight.
Ashton seems to fear that it could be time for Carroll to wrap up his footballing career as he pointed out it was surely crossing the attacker’s mind.
“I certainly understand what it’s like to be injured for long periods of time and it’s very, very difficult,” he told talkSPORT [23/04; 12:38 pm]. “So I’m sure he won’t have been immune to feeling down about that, that’s for sure.
“I’m sure it crosses his mind quite frequently: how long has he got?; Will he be able to carry on?; Will he be able to get another club, all of these sorts of thoughts. It’s just such a shame because no player wants to be injured. It’s not their fault.”
OPINION
If there’s ever anyone who is going to understand what Carroll has gone through over the past few years it’s Ashton. The former England international was in the midst of a hugely promising career when he went down with what ended up being a career-ending injury. Carroll hasn’t had one of those yet, but it’s the accumulation of problems that has people like Ashton wondering if now might be the end of the road for the former Liverpool man. That would be a shame, because he burst onto the scene with Newcastle United with such excitement surrounding him, but he’s just not been able to stay fit. He’s out of contract at West Ham in the summer so in that sense it would be a convenient time for him to hang his boots up. He’s certainly made enough money to retire extremely comfortably, despite his injuries. However, he will probably want to play on for as long as possible. Whether he gets the opportunity to do so at the highest level, though, is doubtful at this stage.
