Chelsea saved by the scan as West Ham confirm Andy Carroll injury

Chelsea’s reported interest in acquiring Andy Carroll (!) from West Ham, and in a permanent transfer, even (!!!) after their refusal to let him go on loan, remains one of the more baffling stories in the rumour mill.

But here comes a bit of bad news for the 29-year-old big man, who’s supposedly been pushing for the move, as the Telegraph’s Jason Burt reports on West Ham confirming Carroll’s ankle injury today after earlier reports claimed that Carroll and the club disagreed over it. Carroll had been accused of “faking” the injury by the Mirror, but it would seem that West Ham were just slow with the scan.

Injury-prone Carroll injured again? Stop the presses.

The news gets worse for the man whose career was launched by Chelsea’s ill-advised decision to spend a club record amount on an injured and declining Fernando Torres, as he may even need surgery for the ankle, which would rule him out for 3-4 months and surely scupper any potential move to Chelsea or elsewhere.

Either way, spending any money on Carroll, already a dubious and unpopular proposition, just got even less beneficial and less sensible. Surgery or no surgery, Chelsea need to start looking at other solutions ... or find some finishing boots for Morata and a bit of faith and courage for Batshuayi.