NEWCASTLE: Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew expects owner Mike Ashley will give him all of the £35mil the club received for the sale of striker Andy Carroll to spend on new players.
Pardew had wanted to keep the 22-year-old, who has scored 11 goals so far this term in the Magpies’ first season back in the Premier League, at the north-east club.
But when Premier League rivals Liverpool came in with a dramatic deadline day offer on Monday, that paved the way for Spain striker Fernando Torres’s move from Anfield to champions Chelsea, it was just too tempting for Ashley to turn down.
Local hero Carroll’s exit angered some Newcastle fans, who believed it showed a lack of ambition on the part of their club.
But Pardew reckons the long-haired forward’s departure could yet be good business all-round if the proceeds of his exit are used to bolster the squad come the end of the season when the transfer window re-opens.
“The one thing I said to Mike yesterday (Monday) was, ‘Look, if this boy is going to go, this money has to be reinvested in the team, all of it’, and he has assured me of that,” Pardew said Tuesday.
“For the Newcastle fan, that is the most important message I can give today, that all that money will be used.”
There was barely an hour of the January transfer window left when the Carroll deal was done and Pardew said: “Late last night, we made a couple of bids, but we were getting extortionate figures thrown at us. It was ridiculous.
“Were we going to pay an overhiked price for a lesser product than Andy Carroll? No, so unfortunately as I sit here now, I am weaker than I was yesterday because I had Andy Carroll maybe four or five weeks away (from full fitness).
“No, I am not comfortable with it, but it is what it is.”
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