The Reds bought the England striker from Newcastle in 2011 at an over-inflated cost.
Former Liverpool director of football Damian Comolli insists he doesn’t regret paying £35 million to sign now-West Ham striker Andy Carroll.
Carroll joined the Reds from Newcastle late on deadline day in January 2011 after Fernando Torres moved to Chelsea for £50m, but the England international failed to make the grade at Anfield and was loaned to the Hammers last season.
The deal was made permanent to the tune of £15m in the summer with Carroll tagged as an expensive flop after the Merseyside club made a substantial loss on their original investment.
However, Comolli defended the transfer and insists the sale of Torres and Ryan Babel offset the staggering sum paid to obtain the Geordie forward.
“At Liverpool, and I would include myself in this because I was there, you have to manage expectations,” Comolli told the Mirror. “But I would not say that has anything to do with Andy Carroll’s fee.
“There was an inflated price on Fernando Torres and we got unbelievable money for him. We looked at it not as a two-player deal, but as a four-player deal.
“We also sold Ryan Babel at that time and we signed Luis Suarez, and we made a profit. That is the way we looked at it at the time.
“I said we were overpaying by £15m for Carroll, but that if the player is not successful we will still get £20m back on him.
“And since then Liverpool have had a big loan fee from West Ham – they paid his wages for a year, and Liverpool have now sold him permanently to them.
“People have forgotten that and they shouldn’t.”
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