Harry Redknapp was torn over whether Tottenham reportedly plotting a move for West Ham attacker Andy Carroll was a good idea.
The former Spurs boss debated whether it would be the right decision to take a chance on the Hammers forward given his style of play but did claim he was the best around when it comes to crosses being played in the box.
“Do they take a chance on an Andy Carroll? I don’t know,” said Redknapp on talkSPORT (Monday January 21st, 8:35am).
“If you get him, use him in right areas, there’s no one better, Tottenham really I know they got a cross in yesterday for the goal but they don’t really play with wide players, crosses mainly come from the full-backs.
“I don’t see them changing their style to get long diagonal balls up to Andy Carroll then running off him so it’s a difficult one.
“Absolutely (whether West Ham can let him go) they need him as I was watching the game Saturday and y’know they didn’t get him an awful lot of services, he had one really good opportunity to score but y’know if you’re gonna play him, I thought West Ham passed it, passed it, passed it cross the back, you have to hit that 40-yard- ball and play off him as you’re not going to get the best out of him like that.
“With the right services he is very effective but Tottenham? I’m not sure it’s a move Pochettino will go for.”
The Sun reported on Monday that Spurs were looking at the possibility of signing Carroll for just £2million with the forward’s contract not having long left to run on it.
OPINION
While the loss of Harry Kane to injury was a blow, no one expected a transfer report to link Spurs with a move for West Ham’s Carroll as he struggling to succeed at the London Stadium right now. The 30-year-old attacker has played nine times for Manuel Pellegrini’s side this season after an injury ruled him out for most of the first-half of the campaign, and hasn’t looked stellar in his outings to say the least. Carroll looks rather rusty and unable to get back to his best as of yet, and it’s not just because the Hammers aren’t playing to his strength like Redknapp suggests. While the former Spurs and Hammers boss is right to doubt that Mauricio Pochettinho is keen on recruiting Carroll, the rest of his verdict is debatable. Carroll isn’t the player he once was based on his season so far so there’s no guarantee that he’ll score even when balls are whipped into the box for him to head home, you just have to look at the chance he missed against Bournemouth to come to that realisation.