West Ham striker Andy Carroll has called Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers a liar after the Northern Irishman forced him to leave Anfield.
In a candid interview with the Times carried by the Daily Mirror Carroll says Rodgers would say one thing to him on the phone, but lacked the bravery to say it to the Geordies face.
“With Brendan Rodgers, there was a lot going on,” explains Carroll.
“What he was saying to me and what was actually happening [were different things].
“He was telling me one thing to my face, then I’d leave the training ground and he would ring me and tell me a completely different thing.
“He would say: ‘You’re going to play every week, you’re going to play every game up front with [Luis] Suarez. I’d leave and get home and he would ring me and say: ‘Fulham and West Ham want you and I think it’s best you should go.’
“I would go back and see him and he would say the opposite again. It was the same thing round and round and round. On phone calls, it was: ‘I think you should go.’ To my face it was: ‘You’ll start every week’.
“It was mixed messages. He was messing with my head. I lost respect for him to be honest.”
Liverpool take on West Ham this afternoon with Hammers boss Sam Allardyce claiming Carroll is now worth £70 million after helping the club rise to the upper part of the Premiership.
“It was just messing me about,” continued Carroll.”
“I was angry. I knew it was time to go. I thought I just want to play football. I didn’t need this. Under Brendan I knew I was never going to play, with what he was saying to me.
“If he had said straightaway I wasn’t going to play, I’d have said fair enough, you’re a new manager, it’s your decision. You didn’t sign me, fair enough.
“If the manager is treating me like this, [I thought] there is no reason for me to be at Liverpool.”
