Andy Carroll injured AGAIN

It wouldn’t be a West Ham United season without an injury to Andy “Chicken Ankles” Carroll. The big man will undergo surgery on his ankle and miss the first three months of the season.

According to the official club site the Geordie Jesus sustained the injury in the squad’s first preseason friendly against Swiss side FC Winterthur.

“Andy played and scored in Sunday’s match but is still reporting some discomfort in his ankle and further scans have revealed that he requires some minor surgery to provide more strength and stability to the area,” said new Head of Medical Richard Collinge.

Photo by Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images

The injury is just the latest in the long line of injuries that Chicken Ankles has had while at West Ham United. It’s almost comical at this point. With his contract up at the end of this season it’s hard to see Carroll signing a big money deal to stay with the Hammers.

West Ham (or any team for that matter) can’t justify the huge wages you pay him to sit on the trainers table and on the bench injured.

Frankly, it’s kind of sad. Andy has all the talent in the world and is a world class striker when healthy. The problem is that he’s never healthy! Another three months on the bench hurt is about par for the course.

In addition to Andy “Chicken Ankles” Carroll’s surgery, Winston Reid will also be out for three months for follow-up knee surgery.

“Winston has been suffering some swelling around the knee,” said Collinge. “Following the injury that he sustained at Swansea last season, and he too is in need of explorative surgery to clean up the area. We have decided that this is the best course of action to ensure that both players have a chance of returning to full fitness as soon as possible.”

Reid’s follow-up surgery is more surprising than Carroll’s injury but Reid has had his fair share of injuries in the past few seasons. The New Zealand international had been a stalwart in the backline but with the arrival of Issa Diop and the emergence of Declan Rice his position as a starter has been heavily under fire.

I think Reid certainly should be allowed to heal up and try to earn his spot back but Carroll’s time at West Ham should have been up this summer. Earlier I wrote about the Andy Carroll Vortex of Doom and how the new manager should not get sucked into it.

I don’t think Manuel Pellegrini was sucked into it but it certainly seemed that he was going to give Carroll the chance to perform rather than sell him this summer. Now that’s going to be impossible. Maybe we can get lucky and Andy will score five goals before the January window closes and we can ship him off somewhere else for a few quid.

All in all not exactly the news West Ham fans wanted to hear today.