After becoming the most expensive British footballer of all time following his £35m transfer from Newcastle United to Liverpool in January 2011, Andy Carroll has a lot to live up to. Carroll's record breaking move to Liverpool came after he started the 2010/11 season as one of the Premier League's star performers, scoring 11 goals in 19 games for newly promoted Newcastle.
The towering striker's physicality and finishing ability makes him a real handful for defenders, and while he has yet to fully prove his worth in Liverpool colours, there is no doubting his massive potential. He has already been identified as a future England star by Fabio Capello, who handed him his international debut in a friendly against France in November 2010.
Carroll scored his first England goal in his second appearance against Ghana, and his impressive performances have seen him compared favourably to fellow Geordie Alan Shearer. Though his Anfield career failed to take off, he has since been shipped out on loan to West Ham, where he's beginning to show the class that marked him out as one of England's great striking hopes for the future.
As long as he can keep him self out of trouble off the field, Carroll, who grew up in Gateshead, has a bright future ahead of him for both club and country.