Jonas Gutierrez believes Andy Carroll will be England hit

Aug 24 2010 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

NEWCASTLE United’s newest hat-trick hero Andy Carroll can have a big future in the England set-up, according to World Cup winger Jonás Gutiérrez.

Played out in front of England assistant boss Franco Baldini, Carroll’s breakthrough performance in Sunday’s 6-0 drubbing of Aston Villa saw him arrive as a Premier League player and thrust him into contention for a Three Lions call-up. Carroll was part of the preliminary long list of players in contention for this summer’s World Cup and while he didn’t make it into the provisional squad, he is clearly a player on Fabio Capello’s radar.

Gutiérrez, who has a wealth of international experience, certainly sees Carroll as a player who can emulate his boyhood hero Alan Shearer and win a senior cap.

“Andy has improved a lot since I arrived. He is still only young so he was always going to improve a lot,” the Argentinian said.

“He can still learn a lot and it was a fantastic hat-trick for him. We have to take care with him. He is young, so we can’t say that this is a big season for him.

“He has a big future and if he is intelligent and clever then he can be a big, big player for the England football team.

“Andy is young. He has been in the Under-21s. He needs to be clever and he needs to take care with everything he does this season.

“If he does the right things then he can be there.

“He’s better in the Under-21s for the moment because he still has to go step by step. He has a great opportunity to go that far though.”

The result and performance against Aston Villa has sent confidence levels surging on Tyneside.