All season it has been said it is a head-to-head battle between West Ham and Newcastle to get Carroll this coming summer.
And now it seems a deal is up to Newcastle, because the Hammers cannot afford him!
The on-loan Liverpool striker netted his fourth goal in the last five appearances for the Irons in Saturday's 1-1 draw at Southampton.
England forward Carroll, 24, maintains he would have no problems with the transfer being made permanent in the summer, but Allardyce revealed committing to such one marquee signing could just prove too costly.
Sam Allardyce: "The hardest thing is the overall package, the overall negotiation which needs to go on to make sure it can be sustainable in terms of what we can do.
"I will still point towards financial restrictions being implemented next season - they could blow the whole deal in one go.
"Financially you are restricted to be able to do it.
"So in one fell swoop the financial restrictions mean Andy Carroll can't sign for us from Liverpool because it's too expensive, even if he wanted to.
"Somebody will have a bigger budget than us somewhere, but I tell you that is what's going to happen, I might not be able to afford Andy Carroll, full stop, even if I wanted him, even if the chairmen wanted him, even if we all wanted him, which we do, it will not be allowed to happen."