Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has casted fresh doubt over the future of Andy Carroll after claiming the club can't keep the England international as their third choice striker.

Carroll, whose future at the club has been the centre of much speculation since the appointment of Rodgers, has scored just 11 goals in 18 months for The Reds since his £35m move from Newcastle United in the January of 2011.

Despite Rodgers' willingness to see Carroll leave Liverpool, both AC Milan and Newcastle United have ruled themselves out of the running to sign the striker, while West Ham United have also missed out on signing the striker.

Brendan Rodgers
Rodgers sees no place for Carroll at Liverpool. Reuters

But Rodgers said: "You don't need to be a rocket scientist to see Andy's been a cover player but he's been excellent in his attitude and acceptance of where he is at.

"But, as a club, I'm not sure we are in a position to have £35million players as third-choice strikers, or a winger on £5-6m a year.

"There's still a wee bit of thinking time, and it's hard to walk away from here. The ones who want to play will probably look elsewhere, irrespective of finance, because that's their passion."

The likes of Carroll, Charlie Adam and Jay Spearing have all been linked with moves away from Liverpool this summer, but many players have opted to fight for their place in the first team rather than move on to pastures new.

Rodgers has made it clear to many of his first team peripherals that they will not feature this season, however the Northern Irish boss has lamented their decision to stay at Anfield.

"The club financially needs repair," Rodgers added. "So to sign the players linked, unfortunately I don't have the ability to do that - not in this window anyway.

"This is an incredible club and some players, even if you want to move them on, won't walk out.

"I can only ever be straight with players.

"I've made it clear my group will be made up of starting players, cover players who can come in, and development players who can progress.

"If you feature outside of that I will tell you and then it is up to the player what they want - do they want to play football?"