West Ham striker Andy Carroll’s expected return date from his latest injury lay off will be delayed an extra month, according to the Telegraph.
Our £15m record-signing suffered a torn MCL in his knee against Southampton in February, and hasn’t featured since as he’s undergone an extensive recovery programme.
The 26-year-old is back in training in a limited capacity, and there were hopes he would be fit enough to return to the field after the September international break to face his former side Newcastle.
However, the club are deciding to take extra precautionary measures to make sure they don’t rush the England international back too soon and risk further injury.
They have agreed to give the striker his own ‘pre-season’ during the early part of the season, featuring in reserve team games to build some some match fitness before a return to first-team action.
West Ham do have the players to cope in the mean time in Diafra Sakho, Enner Valencia and Mauro Zarate, and if Elliot Lee and Martin Samuelsen continue to impress in pre-season they both could have a role sooner than expected.
That hasn’t deterred the Hammers from continuing their search for more depth at the position.
Unfortunately they have seemingly hit dead ends in several deals. Manchester United have told the club that Javier Hernandez is not for sale this summer, and Roma’s Mattia Destro will reject the Hammers, despite the efforts of Pedro Obiang.
Two names that continue to be mentioned are Emmanuel Adebayor and Fabio Borini.
