FSG's second Liverpool signing joins Bordeaux months after takeover collapse

Former Liverpool striker Andy Carroll has signed for French fourth-tier club Bordeaux. The 35-year-old spent last season at Ligue 2 side Amiens, having left Reading at the end of August 2023.

A club statement on Wednesday read: "FC Girondins de Bordeaux is delighted to announce the arrival of Andy Carroll."

It continued: "Andy arrives in Bordeaux to strengthen the attack. At 35, he has incomparable experience at the top level. A former England international (nine caps, two goals), he has played nearly 450 professional matches. His size, his goal-scoring talent and his fighting spirit will certainly help Les Marine et Blanc this season. We can’t wait to see him on the pitch."

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Carroll started his career with Newcastle and cemented himself as a regular at St James' Park. His enjoyed a breakthrough campaign in 2009/10, scoring 19 goals in 42 appearances as the Magpies bounced straight back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

He continued his form into the following season, netting 11 times in 20 matches for Newcastle before Liverpool came calling in the January transfer window. The Reds confirmed the arrival of Carroll for £35million on the same evening that Fernando Torres made the dramatic £50m switch to Chelsea.

In the process, Carroll became the second signing of the Fenway Sports Group (FSG) era following Luis Suarez's move to Anfield earlier in the month. Carroll didn't end up making his debut for five weeks, but when he did return, he didn't produce, having scored just twice in nine matches at the end of the 2010/11 season.

The 2011/12 campaign felt like Carroll's first chance to make himself at home with the Reds, but it's safe to say he failed to live up to expectations. Although Carroll was superb in their FA Cup run to the final before losing against Chelsea, he ended the season with just nine goals in 47 matches.

Carroll left Liverpool to join West Ham on loan in August 2012. The Reds initially wanted a £17m option for a permanent transfer written into the deal, but dropped the demand to facilitate the move. His time at the Hammers - albeit disrupted with injuries - was on the successful side and the transfer was made permanent.

However, Carroll was never really able to kick on after his move to West Ham. In fact, he scored just 27 goals in 118 appearances for the Hammers across six years before being released.

The former England international re-signed for Newcastle in August 2019, penning a one-year contract. he failed to score in 21 appearances for the Magpies but somehow managed to agree an extension on his deal. He left Tyneside in the summer of 2021 after scoring just once during his second spell.

Carroll joined Reading in November 2021 on a short-term contract. He impressed during his time at the Royals, scoring twice in eight matches before securing a move to West Brom until the end of that season. Carroll returned to Reading in September 2022, and he ended up scoring nine times for them that campaign.

Having made the switch to Ligue 1 side Amiens in September 2023, Carroll struggled for form last season. That has since prompted him to drop two tiers to join non-league club Bordeaux after the former Ligue 1 winners dropped out of professional football following the decision to go bust.

In fact, Bordeaux filed for bankruptcy following the collapse of takeover talks with FSG. The American business group had identified Bordeaux as a club with significant potential and a strong pedigree in developing talent, a recent example being Aurelien Tchouameni, who ended up moving on to Real Madrid.

It wasn’t without its problems, however, with a large amount of heavy lifting required from an operational standpoint. The key reasons for the deals collapse, though, were that a resolution couldn’t be found in a timely manner over the club’s 42,500-seater stadium, the Matmut Atlantique, a ground owned by the local authority.