In an interview with Foot Mercato, former England and West Ham striker Andy Carroll opened up about the difficult times he faced in East London. 

Andy Carroll joined West Ham on an initial season-long loan from Liverpool for the 2012/13 season, it was quite a surprise signing as it was a huge name for a club that had just been promoted from the Championship. The big Geordie contributed to 11 goals in 26 games which earned him a permanent £15m move to the Hammers.

In his six permanent seasons at the club, he only managed to make more than 26 appearances in one campaign which was the 2015/16 season, his finest season at the club, where he scored nine goals and two assists as we finished 7th in the final season at Upton Park. This included the iconic hattrick in the 3-3 draw with Arsenal.

Carroll opened up to Foot Mercato, admitting his days at the Hammers where some of the worst he’s had to face: “It was a really tough time in my life. It was a stressful time for me. I was at rock bottom, everything was dark. It was hard to get back up. I was just falling apart and making bad decisions. It was just really tough.”

Carroll’s career at West Ham was completely ruined by injury, he had 22 separate injuries in his seven seasons at the club, this meant he only played 41% of the available Premier League minutes.

“At West Ham, I had surgery on an ankle fracture, and it didn’t really go to plan,  I had pins and plates put in, and they weren’t the right pins and it refractured, so I had to go back in again and get it re-done, but it refractured again.

“I was getting to a point where I was back, ready for the first-team, and then I would refracture it. The screws would come out, or the bolts would come out. It was just a nightmare, setback after setback. It was just frustrating.”

Carroll admitted he “struggled a lot” because he was “alone, going to get physio” while “seeing the lads having fun outside”.

He added: “It’s mentally tough. Then you read things in the news like, ‘Oh, he’s always injured. He wants to be injured and get paid ‘x’ amount for nothing’, and it is hard.”

“As a player, you just want to be out there playing. But sometimes you hear people saying: ‘Oh, he’s still injured, he should retire.’ Things like that that are not nice. At that point you are in a hole, in your shell and you are just trying to get out of it. Luckily, I managed to get out of it and I had a positive ending.

“So now I just love playing football. I get paid to play football. I get paid to do what I love.

“I’ve had a lot of injuries in my career. I have been on the bench, been a bit-part player and off the pitch sometimes, only playing the last ten minutes. I just want to finish my career playing as much as possible. And it is not about money. It is just about enjoying my life.”

Andy Carroll is now playing in the French fourth division with Bordeaux, the Ligue 1 giants lost their professional status after they filed for bankruptcy. and were relegated to the Championnat National 2. The former Liverpool striker has scored four goals in his first two matches in southwestern France,

He said: “If I wasn’t a professional footballer, I’d be playing it as a hobby. So, I’m just fortunate that I’m still playing at my age at the level where I’m enjoying it and getting paid for it.”