Clause for thought

With the ongoing Carroll saga, today's Guardian claims that the £2 million loan fee for Andy Carroll comes with an agreement to definitely buy him for £17 million the following season. I can't see that this makes any business sense, since we might end up obliged to buy a player who could have had a poor season. Surely there is a get-out clause? In any case, most of the papers say that Carroll is not keen on a move to West Ham, information that is presumably coming from someone in Carroll's camp. The Guardian also reveals that Carroll and Sam Allardyce share the same agent, which might persuade him to sign along with the Nolan link, though it's surely a mistake to sign a player who will feel he's taking a step down. After Ljungberg and Dyer we have to be very careful about taking massive gambles on individual players and surely need some mid-price players rather than a showboat signing. And four days on he doesn't seem exactly desperate to join us...