[Jagger]

Found this on another site and thought it fitting given Carroll's overinflated price. There's a bit of reading here but thought Locke, in particular, would have his mind put at ease by reading this:

"here’s a quote from ‘Mind Games: How the Boston Red Sox Got Smart, Won a World Series, and created a New Blue Print for Winning.’
Quote:
“If there was a mission statement for the Red Sox of the future, it was this: be the Yankees, but smarter… Fill holes above market prices when necessary.”

we had a big hole to fill, and, damn the expense, we filled it, immediately. Balls all to do with going against his principles, on the contrary, John Henry's stuck to them resolutely."

Spot on comments given the situation our favourite Spaniard put us in.

Carroll apparently was our next major target anyway, for a summer signing, but this had to be moved forward given the circumstances.
This snippet from another piece was good too:

"Andy Carroll makes sense for Liverpool on a few of levels. One: he’s young. In five years he’ll be in his prime (or perhaps past his prime, but near enough that someone will still want him) and can then be sold on for good money again. If transfer fees exceed inflation (as surely they will, especially if there’s an economic recovery) then there’s a fair chance that a good amount of that £35million can be recouped. Especially because two: he should age well. He hasn’t played a lot of games for his age, and his skillset is one that ought to hold up. Three: he’s unique. Seriously, Carroll has an ability that not many others have. He’s phenomenal in the air, has a decent touch, and appears to have the instincts to make the most of his skills. He’s what Peter Crouch should have been. Four: (ack) he’ll enhance the brand. He’s John Charles, John Toshack, a most English of English centre-forwards (and yes, I’ve just picked two Welsh players…). Liverpool fans are nothing if not backward looking: they’ll love their all action number 9. He’ll make the club a fortune in shirt sales around the world.

So there are reasons to spend big on Carroll. No, he’s not undervalued at all; but he’s not without value, and as a signing (especially given the context of receiving so much for Torres) he makes sense. Liverpool’s owners will have done the analysis and will know that success costs money. The more you spend the better you get. From there it will have been a question of working out how to spend that money. You can buy seven five million players for £35 million, but then you end up no better off; you can buy three ten million players and maybe that does make a difference; but if you think you have found premium talent, talent that is not available from any other source, you have to pay up. With Carroll and Suarez Liverpool have paid up; they’ll know what they’re doing here, and just as Chelsea and City had to spend away to kick start their ascendency, so too are John Henry’s team. He needs defenders now and a few more £10 million types dotted around the pitch to make this really pay off, but the recovery is on. It’s not Moneyball in the “undervalued player” sense, but it’s Moneyball in the “we know what we’re doing” sense. "

and, deep breath, finally this:

"Andy Carroll is the eighth most expensive player in history. Which is quite something for a 22-year-old with only 41 top-flight games to his name. But those who say the £35m Liverpool paid is too much money are not considering the matter in the round. Liverpool have spent £58m on Carroll and Luis Suárez. But they pulled in £56m for Ryan Babel, below, and Fernando Torres. The net transfer outlay is £2m.

Then there are the wages: Suárez and Carroll's combined wages ring the till at about £7m a year. But Torres alone earned £6.76m a year, with Babel earning another £2.5m. The wage savings will have covered the net transfer outlay before next January's transfer window opens. A player is worth what someone will pay, and Liverpool have found their own value."

These deals seem better all the time to me the more I read about them (and I already liked them)