Andy Carroll underwent more ankle surgery

Andy Carroll underwent yet more surgery on his ankle for a long-standing issue which will now rule him out of contention until the end of his contract with West Ham.

It was his second ankle surgery of the season after the club reported that Carroll felt some discomfort in his ankle in July last year and further scans have revealed that he required some surgery to provide more strength and stability to the area. That seems to have failed.

Carroll only returned at the beginning of December last year playing 14 games before suffering an injury again in February.

In previous seasons he has been plagued by groin injuries, MCL and knee injuries,  torn ligaments, fractured foot, heel bone injury, hamstring tears and thigh injuries.

Last week Pellegrini refused to be drawn into questions about Andy Carroll’s future but it is the elephant in the room. We all know he won’t get a new contract, the club know it, the manager knows it, the players know it and Andy Carroll certainly knows it. Like with previous players approaching the end of their contract, Carroll won’t get his official letter from the club secretary until the appropriate time but it will hardly come as a surprise to anyone not least Carroll himself.