Many Newcastle United supporters have been reacting on social media, after The Shields Gazette claimed knowledge of the details in Andy Carroll’s contract.
The former England and West Ham United striker was signed on Deadline Day as a free agent, with reports suggesting his return to Tyneside would be on a pay-as-you-play basis.
However, it is now suggested the 30-year-old will be earning a basic weekly wage in the region of £20k and £25,000, and would be due substantial bonuses should he feature for the Magpies and, indeed, score a goal for his boyhood side.
The alleged sum is a vastly reduced amount from the wage he had been earning in East London with the Irons, as it is believed his Hammers contract saw the Gateshead-born striker earn £90,000-a-week.
A similar contract would have placed Carroll in our top-earners bracket alongside Joelinton and Jonjo Shelvey, although the sum claimed by The Shields Gazette is more in line with the wages of Rob Elliot, Karl Darlow and Isaac Hayden.
Sean Longstaff also earns around £25,000-a-week, but is thought to be in talks with the club over a new deal that would gazump the wages of Miguel Almiron and Jamaal Lascelles.
Along with his basic weekly salary, £7.2million-rated Carroll’s initial one-year contract includes a clause that would see his deal extend into a second term should he mark an as yet unknown number of appearances.
Former Toon midfielder Mo Diame had a similar clause in his final Newcastle contract, but he failed to reach the needed 25 games to trigger a one-year extension and instead left Tyneside as a free agent earlier this summer.
Carroll made just 14 appearances for West Ham across all competitions in what proved to be his final campaign with the Claret and Blue side, a decrease on his previous season’s 18 and the 22 outings achieved during the 2016/17 term.
Here’s how these Newcastle fans reacted to the terms of Carroll’s contract…
Basic wage 25k . That’s shocking how will he feed his family with that????
— Zain ali (@z1a1i1n) August 15, 2019
A much needed face in the dressing room.. Can’t believe i’m saying this.. A role model for the young strikers at the club
— Enigma (@Enigma_xx32) August 15, 2019
It’s not about the money he is a millionaire it’s about playing for the magpies
— Steven Renforth (@RenforthSteven) August 15, 2019
I work a whole year for that wage…he should be on basis statutory sick pay like the rest of us all…he then may get some respect from me.
— julie andrusyschyn (@andyshoestring) August 15, 2019
£20,000 a week sick pay isn’t bad ????
— Hedders (@AlexHedley47) August 15, 2019
Absolute peanuts for a striker of his quality and a million miles off what he would have been on at previous clubs after leaving us. I think he will play an important role for us this year. It an absolute no brainer IMO
— Me (@newcastlefan55) August 15, 2019
wish i was on a basic wage like that pay you play!
— Neil (@On_A_Journey_to) August 15, 2019
its a no brainer tbh, if he players more then 15 games they may aswell sign him up as thats basically what a covering striker would play.
— B (@JMAG1892) August 15, 2019