West Ham's Carroll dismisses January exit talk amid Chinese links

Amid speculation linking him with a high-profile move to China, West Ham's Andy Carroll insisted he isn't going anywhere during the January window.

It appears the Irons' ponytailed purveyor of timely goals isn't the only one who finds recent rumblings about a Far East pilgrimage bizarre.

"No, no. I don't know where that came from," Carroll said ahead of Monday's visit from Manchester United, courtesy of the Evening Standard.

"I'm happy, I'm settled. Obviously, in the past I've done a lot of things but I've settled down here."

Fair play to the towering 27-year-old striker for his refusal to dodge a dodgy past that marred spells with Newcastle and Liverpool. Now with four-and-a-half seasons at West Ham under his belt, the former England international conceded he's finally content with his place in football.

"It's great, I love the club. I think the staff, fans, players, and the area I live, everything's perfect," he said.

With just seven league appearances this campaign, Carroll has struggled to regain the form that saw him bag nine goals last season in 27 run-outs, but even given the sporadic nature of his outings, the Tyne and Wear-reared forward was linked with a lucrative Chinese move.

As is all the rage in football, the festive period has witnessed a pair of opulent moves to the new-money Chinese top flight.

After fancy-footed Brazilian Oscar transferred to Andre Villas-Boas' Shanghai SIPG for an astronomical £60-million fee to meet up with countryman Hulk, Carlos Tevez signed a world-record £615,000-per-week deal with Gus Poyet-managed Shanghai Shenhua.