Carroll is staying at Anfield (From The Northern Echo)

Carroll is staying at Anfield

12:04pm Tuesday 31st January 2012 in Football: Club News

LIVERPOOL manager Kenny Dalglish tried to put an end to speculation about striker Andy Carroll’s future after stressing there will be no transfer movement in or out of the club in the current window.

The Reds’ £35million record signing has become the focal point of much speculation after enduring a difficult first year at Anfield following his move from Newcastle.

Having been linked with a highly unlikely cut-price return to the Magpies, reports emerged at the weekend which claimed Manchester City had turned down an offer to swap Carroll for their wantaway striker Carlos Tevez.

Dalglish, a staunch defender of the England international, refused to comment on speculation but categorically stated there would be no activity at Anfield before tomorrow evening.

‘‘There is no-one going in or out the club before the transfer window,’’ said the Reds boss.

‘‘I don’t read the papers so I don’t know (about speculation) but we have covered what we have to say.

‘‘We don’t need to justify what people are speculating about, do we?’’ And while 12 months ago the club surprised everyone with their huge outlay to sign Carroll on the final day of January business, the situation has changed since then.

Carroll and Luis Suarez represented a major re-investment of the money banked from the £50million sale of Fernando Torres to Chelsea and the £6.75million from Ryan Babel’s move to Hoffenheim.

He is still working on knitting together all his new recruits into a more consistently cohesive unit and even though there has been criticism over Carroll, in particular, the manager is standing by his players.