Carroll out! Liverpool in on Andy's replacement

It’s been a good news, bad news season for Liverpool fans. Two cups at the end of the season certainly do not make it look as all the dire news reports predict. That’s the good news. The bad news is the effect Kenny Dalglish’s new buys have had on the club. Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adams, Stewart Downing and then the most polarising of them all Andy Carroll. The big question at Anfield is whether all or any of them need to be given more time at the club. And if it will cost Liverpool more not to take a huge loss on the 35 million they paid for Carroll by keeping him. This is where there is at last, more good news coming in. Liverpool are ready to battle with 15 other clubs to sign Dutch forward Luuk de Jong. And that can only mean the end of Carroll. Or the relegation of Carroll to Cup games – where he has, er, performed. De Jong is 21 and has hit 30 goals in 46 games for FC Twente. De Jong is under contract until 2014 but looks set to quit the Eredivisie outfit. The Sun quoted his agent Luis Laros as saying: “Liverpool are following Luuk closely. But so are 15 other clubs. “Three big clubs who played in the Champions League want to do a firm deal with Twente. “We’ll see what cards we hold in a few weeks.”