West Ham manager Sam Allardyce says striker Andy Carroll will return to training next week after a long-term foot problem which has seen him miss the start of the ongoing season.
The Englishman completed a six-year club record move to West Ham last summer after serving the Hammers for one year on loan.
Since moving to Upton Park, he only made 24 appearances scoring 7 goals and picked up a heel injury towards the end of last season.
“We expected him to be back two or three games into the season, and that hasn’t happened,” Allardyce said. “We have to be tentative in our approach to it.”
The 24-year-old striker’s absence had made the Boleyn Ground outfit play without any out-and-out striker so far in the season and, even resulted to the re-signing of a three-year deal for another Englishman Carlton Cole.
“When Andy’s fit we’ve got to get him fit to stay fit. Having not played a game since May, it will take some time to get him into match-fitness situation. He’s done and awful lot of work, but that doesn’t include match fitness, so it will take a while for him to get back to speed.”
