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Carroll spent two years at Anfield. PA Wire/Press Association Images

Carroll: I had to Google who Liverpool's players were after Anfield move

The West Ham striker has admitted he did not really want to leave Newcastle United for Merseyside.

ANDY CARROLL HAS admitted he did not feel ready to join Liverpool and had to Google the names of some of the players at the club.

The West Ham striker joined the Reds for £35 million from Newcastle United in January 2011 but struggled to settle at Anfield, going out on loan to West Ham the following year before joining them permanently in 2013.

After making his name on Tyneside, Carroll netted just 11 goals in 58 games for Liverpool and has since been dubbed one of their worst signings of the Premier League era due to his huge price tag.

Speaking to ex-Liverpool player Jamie Redknapp, Carroll revealed that the transfer came as a “shock” to him and suggested he would have preferred to stay at Newcastle.

“Jamie, when I was leaving Newcastle for Liverpool, I was in the helicopter on the way down and I had to go to Google to find out who their players were, looking on the phone,” he said during an interview with the Daily Mail.

“I was signing and I didn’t know who my team-mates would be!

“I knew Stevie and some of the others but not all of them. And I loved it at Newcastle. I wasn’t ready to leave. It came as a shock.

“I’d had a season ticket, it was my club and it was a shock to move. I was 22. I could never get a grip at Liverpool.”

Carroll, who has nine England caps to his name, said he felt relieved to finally put his days on Merseyside behind him by signing for West Ham.

“I walked in and I felt at home,” he reflected. “It was a good feeling.

“The fans welcomed me and I felt the same as I did at Newcastle, as if I was with a group of lads I liked and had grown up with.”

Assessing his injury-hit career as a whole, Carroll acknowledged that he had plenty he still wants to achieve at the age of 28.

When asked to mark his achievements so far out of 10, he replied: “Six — Newcastle, yeah good. Liverpool: never really happened. Here? In spells, yes. Not really done what I know I can do and believe I will do.

“There’s a lot more. Yes, I’ll give myself six. Nine caps for England, there are more caps in me. I’ve always thought I could play for England if I am on my game – if I am fit.”

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