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HE won’t be playing, but it will be hard to ignore Andy Carroll’s presence at Anfield this weekend. If only as a reminder of a forgotten time.

The most expensive player in Liverpool’s history will be little more than an interested spectator as his parent club take on his loan side on Sunday, the terms of his temporary move to West Ham United prohibiting him from taking part in the game.

How frustrating for the England striker, who had looked in fine form last weekend, scoring twice, and in some style too, as the Hammers beat West Bromwich Albion at Upton Park.

In many ways there is a grim irony to Carroll’s absence this weekend. Centre-stage one week, sidelined the next. Such is his lot these days, it would seem.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

Carroll’s arrival at Anfield, in a blaze of publicity and flashbulbs, was supposed to usher in a new era. Here was a young, exciting, English centre forward, signed at breathtaking cost, to help fill the void left by the departing Fernando Torres. He had torn Liverpool apart weeks before joining them. He was the Premier League’s top-scoring Englishman at the time.

His transfer to Liverpool was completed hours after Luis Suarez’s. How different those two moves have turned out.

Suarez will play on Sunday, of course. He will arrive into the game as the Premier League’s top scorer, among the favourites for the Player of the Year award, breaking records on a weekly basis. He is the darling of the Kop, the leader of the new Liverpool.

Carroll, by contrast, represents a problem. An expensive one at that. And with the season hurtling towards its conclusion, it would appear there is no solution in sight just yet.

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce stated earlier this week that there was “a possibility” of the striker remaining in east London next season. Liverpool discussed a fee of £16m for Carroll with the Hammers when negotiating his loan switch back in August, but it is understood the Londoners are under no obligation to make the move permanent.

What is clear is that Carroll has no future at Anfield. At least not whilst Brendan Rodgers is in charge.

No sooner had Rodgers walked through the door than questions were being asked about Carroll’s suitability. Rodgers’ system, based around ball-retention, movement, energy and interchanging of positions, particularly in attacking areas, is not tailored to a player such as Carroll, whose preference is for high, hanging crosses, second balls and instinctive strikes from outside the penalty area.

The striker was told, whilst on holiday last summer, that he would be allowed to leave if a suitable offer was received. It may have been expected, but it represented a sizeable blow to a player who had scored at Wembley in both the FA Cup semi final and final just a few weeks earlier, and who had impressed when called upon for England at the European Championships.

What followed was a rather unedifying saga. Liverpool’s public stance was that Carroll had a part to play, but privately the message was rather different. Newcastle expressed an interest, but their eagerness to conclude a budget-price deal for a player they had sold for £35m counted against them. Carroll, according to sources, would have walked back to the North East if he could have. He featured as a substitute in Liverpool’s first two league games of the season, but was eventually pushed, reluctantly, into joining West Ham as the August transfer window drew to a close, his friendship with Kevin Nolan proving a key factor.

The switch has not gone entirely as planned. A hamstring injury sustained on his debut cost him a month, and he twisted a knee against Manchester United in November, missing a further two months. There have been just 17 appearances in total this season, and his brace against West Brom took him to five goals.

Where next, then? A move to West Ham seems the likeliest option. Allardyce is a fan, has a style that suits, and has fashioned a squad that should be able to play to the frontman’s strengths. With Newcastle focusing their attention primarily on the French market, a return to Tyneside would appear unlikely, even if Carroll’s recent tweet of a picture of the Angel of the North, with the caption “Home sweet home” suggests his heart remains black and white.

Similarly, a return to Anfield would appear to be out of the question. Rodgers failed to add to his forward ranks in the wake of Carroll’s departure, but the signings of Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho in January, and the presence of a number of talented young forwards at the club mean he is not missed, even if it is a little unfair to brand him a total flop.

So Carroll will look on from the sidelines on Sunday.

There will be no high, hanging crosses to attack, no centre-halves to rough up, no blasts of “Sweet Carroll Nine” from the Kop.

Only a sense of what might have been, or what should never have been.

Or, in Carroll’s own case, what is to come. At 24, the most expensive English footballer of all time faces a career crossroads. He needs to make the right turn this time.