Premier League club West Ham United suffered a blow yesterday when manager Sam Allardyce said there was no timescale for a return from injury for record signing Andy Carroll.

The 24-year-old England striker, signed for £15 million from Liverpool in June after spending a year on loan at the London club, has not played this season and re-injured his right foot in training this month.

“It’s the same type of injury but in a different area. It is not an Achilles injury, as has been suggested but instead it involves the band of tissue which runs under the foot,” Allardyce said.

“According to the specialist the chance of a recurrence of that type of injury is about four per cent but unfortunately for Andy he was one of the unlucky ones.”

The club said the injury was not as serious as his previous injury but the uncertainty over when he might recover is a big blow to West Ham, who have picked up four points from their opening three league matches.

“We had been very cautious, very patient with him along the way and it’s sad this has happened for him as well as us,” Allardyce added.

“He doesn’t need an operation but we need to give the foot time to re-heal, continue the rehab and get him back in training again.”