Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew has revealed that he was unable to sign Adam Lallana for Newcastle United a couple of years ago due to the intervention of Graham Carr.
Mike Ashley’s running of Newcastle United in recent years has certainly been very controversial and the billionaire owner has widely been criticized for not allowing his managers to make key decisions in the transfer market.
Ashley is believed to have brought in a host of players at St. James’ Park over the years without the consent of his managers, with his apparent sole objective behind recruiting being the potential increase in resale value.
Ex-Newcastle boss Alan Pardew clearly had his hands tied in the transfer market during his time at St. James’ Park and the 55-year-old has now gone on to reveal how he was unable to bring in Adam Lallana from Southampton.
Pardew explained that he was keen on securing the services of Lallana during his time at St. James’ Park but was eventually unable to do so due to the intervention of club chief scout Graham Carr.
He told the Chronicle, “I had him at Southampton and he is a terrific athlete. He is player who has great ability. Once he got introduced in the game against Manchester United, I think you could see the difference in their pressing. I think he’s key to that.
“He was a player who I was desperate to bring to Newcastle but the Chief Scout there at the time told me he wasn’t good enough.”
