Andy Carroll: West Ham United Signs Liverpool Forward

West Ham United has taken a big step towards securing their place in the Premier League next year and years to come with the signing of Liverpool forward on a season-long loan.

According to West Ham's official website, WHUFC.com, Carroll will spend the remainder of this season at Boleyn Ground with the option to make the move permanent next summer.

I guess three seasons of the last decade in the second-tier of English football will make a club pull the trigger on expensive players faster than most.

The 23-year-old Carroll expressed excitement about the chance to play for the upstart Hammers:

"It's great to be here at West Ham and all signed up," Carroll said hours after joining the club. "I just can't wait to get started now. I want to be playing games and obviously hoping to score some goals. I know the manager well and some of the lads, so it is nice for me to come to a place where I know people. I'm hoping to add a lot of goals and create a few chances."

Caroll indeed knows West Ham manager Sam Allardyce very well. A former Newcastle man, Caroll played under Allardyce during the 2007-2008 season. He earned his first Premier League start that year and scored his first goals that season as he began to bloom into the tough, physical player that earned him an unprecedented £35 million transfer to Liverpool in 2011.

"I think for all parties this is a great signing," said Allardyce. "Andy is an all-round footballer, but because he is 6'3" and one of his strengths is his aerial power, everybody dismisses the ability he possesses on the floor."

It'll be interesting to see how Carroll fits in with a West Ham club that is—to put it mildly—impotent on offense. In two league matches so far this year, the Hammers have scored just one goal.

Can Carroll improve that number himself? Will he create chances and allow fellow attackers Kevin Nolan, Ricardo Vaz Te and Carlton Cole to score goals? Or will he flop, creating more distractions in the locker room than scoring opportunities on the pitch?

Let me know in the comments section below!