Source: FOOTYMAD
Liverpool owner explains Carroll fee
The Liverpool owner John W Henry has claimed the club did not care what they had to pay for striker Andy Carroll, as long as they emerged with £15million in cash left over after the sale of Fernando Torres to Chelsea. Liverpool raised eyebrows after giving £35m to Newcastle to bring Carroll to Anfield, but Henry said the size of the fee was not a concern as it was always factored in to negotiations with Chelsea. "The fee for Torres was dependent on what Newcastle asked for Carroll," Henry told The Guardian. "The negotiation for us was simply the difference in prices paid by Chelsea and to Newcastle. Those prices could have been £35million [from Chelsea for Torres] and £20m [to Newcastle for Carroll], 40 and 25 or 50 and 35. It was ultimately up to Newcastle how much this was all going to cost. They [Newcastle] made a hell of a deal. We felt the same way." With Ryan Babel moving to Hoffenheim for £6m, the difference on the Carroll deal allowed Liverpool to pay for the £22.8m arrival of Luiz Suarez from Ajax. Henry expressed surprise Chelsea were willing to go as high as £50m, questioning whether Roman Abramovich's club could meet Uefa's new financial fair-play rules. "I was surprised Monday morning to receive an offer in that amount at the same time they were announcing such large losses [£71m for 2009-10]," Henry said. "The big question is just how effective the financial fair-play rules are going to be. Perhaps some clubs support the concept in order to limit the spending of other clubs, while implementing activities specifically designed to evade the rules they publicly support. "We can only hope that Uefa has the ability and determination to enforce what they have proposed. "It's up to us to generate enough revenue to be successful over the long term. We have not and will not deviate from that."
