Will Newcastle ever get Carroll fit and firing?

Andy Carroll has been ruled out of Newcastle’s Premier League clash with Wolves on Sunday as the striker continues to be plagued by fitness problems. Former England international Carroll had looked destined for big things when he originally left Newcastle to join Liverpool in 2011 and, even though his time at Anfield never really took off, a move to West Ham a couple of years later was expected to kick-start his career.
However, Carroll’s impact in east London diminished season on season as his injury problems worsened and he only made 62 Premier League starts over his final six years with the Hammers before being released at the end of the 2018-19 campaign.
A persistent ankle problem has been Carroll’s main concern over recent times, but hometown club Newcastle opted to take a chance on him during the summer by offering him a one-year contract.
The Magpies have been keen to manage Carroll’s return to fitness carefully, with the forward having played just 89 minutes of Premier League football so far this term, with all his appearances coming from the bench.
Carroll has also only been training just twice a week to further wrap him up in cotton wool, but it has now been revealed that he suffered a slight groin injury at Chelsea last weekend and he will, therefore, sit out Sunday’s clash with Wolves at St James’ Park.
The fresh injury, even if it is just a minor one, will be a source of frustration for Carroll, as he was being tipped to start his first match for his boyhood club since December 2010.
However, the more pressing concern will be can the Gateshead-born targetman ever return to full fitness or is the remainder of his career set to be plagued by injury setbacks?
The former Preston loanee will turn 31 in January and if he fails to deliver on a regular basis between now and the end of the season, the likelihood is that he will be released by Newcastle, leaving him without a club for a second straight summer.
There was not exactly a queue of teams looking to sign Carroll following his departure from West Ham and another injury-disrupted campaign could leave him with limited options to continue his career beyond the summer.
Both Carroll and Newcastle will be hoping the forward can eventually manage his injury problems to a degree that will allow him to feature more regularly and. all being well, he is expected to be available for the upcoming trip to his former club West Ham on November 2.
A return to the London Stadium could prove the catalyst that Carroll needs to get his career going again, but the fear is we will never see him return to the levels that prompted Liverpool to pay £35million to bring him to Anfield all those years ago.