Allardyce confirms Carroll 'recall' option

Sam Allardyce has confirmed that Liverpool can recall Andy Carroll from his loan spell at West Ham in January.

Allardyce, speaking on satellite TV this morning admitted that Carroll's loan contract does contain a clause allowing the Merseysiders to take him back to Anfield in January should they so wish.

Speaking about the deal this morning, Big Sam said: "We couldn't agree on a deal for Andy with Liverpool in the early stages, so it looked as if it wasn't going to happen. Then, right at the very end, there was an opportunity where he could leave and we struck that deal very quickly.

"There's an opportunity for Liverpool [to recall him] if they want to, but whether they do or they don't will be in a matter of time.

"If Andy's playing for us on a regular basis by then and that's the case, he'll have played a major part in keeping us in the league this year. In the end, the deal was structured to get the player however you could get him, from my point of view.

"This player is that big, in my opinion, for us this season, so you do whatever you can do to get the deal done."

Carroll - who missed yesterday's goalless draw at Norwich after sustaining a hamstring injury on his debut against Fulham a fortnight ago was thought to be looking at up to six weeks out.

However there is thought to be a slim chance that he could make his comeback as early as next weekend when West Ham host Sunderland - who drew 1-1 with Carroll's parent club at the Stadium of Light yesterday - even if Allardyce remained tight-lipped about his chances of an early recovery.

"The next international break comes on 6th October 6," he said. "If he's fit before then we'll have done a magnificent job. But I think it will be after that.

"If the lads do the job they've started to do then it won't be too desperate to rush him straight back. We've got to be very careful that we don't rush it too much as the hamstring might re-occur; that would be a disaster for us and for him."