West Ham boss Sam Allardyce has urged England manager Roy Hodgson to go easy with Andy Carroll in the next set of World Cup qualifiers.
The 23-year-old impressed during his debut against Fulham on September 1 following a loan switch from Liverpool - only to limp off with a hamstring problem which ruled him out of the internationals in Moldova and against Ukraine. Carroll has now resumed light training and could be back in contention for the visit of Arsenal on October 6.
That would almost certainly see the 6ft 3ins striker included for England's games the week after, against San Marino at Wembley and then in Poland, but Allardyce warned: "It would be something that would need a conversation between me and Roy to say 'Andy is back, but please be careful if he goes to England."
He added: "I am not saying 'don't play him', just be careful of the situation where he has come from.
"The last thing we would want is to spend all that time to get Andy fit again, play for us, go to England and get injured playing for England.
"There would have to be a bit of a conversation between me and Roy and the [England] medical staff to put them in the picture where Andy would be because of his lack of first-team appearances is a major concern to us."
Allardyce insists Carroll's return has to be carefully managed - even if he were not to go away on international duty.
"If I was lucky enough to have him fit for Arsenal and he played, Andy wouldn't play all game. I wouldn't be daft enough to keep him on for the full 90 minutes," the Irons boss said.
"That would mean if he went to England I would express the wish that England be careful on how long they play him.
"What we don't want is to find ourselves with another soft tissue injury and fatigue brings soft tissue injuries."
Source: PA
