England coach Roy Hodgson revealed he wanted to sign Andy Carroll for Liverpool before Kenny Dalglish spent £35 million to land the Newcastle United striker.
Dalglish, sacked at the end of last season, secured Carroll for Liverpool from Newcastle 17 months ago.
But Hodgson said: "It's not just because he had a good end to the season. When I was at Liverpool and we were considering which players we might be interested in, in the January transfer window if we had new owners coming in, Carroll was actually a player I watched and thought about."
