Manchester United Player Profiles : Michael Carrick

Filed under: Manchester United Football Club, Manchester United Players

The young midfielder from up-north joined United at the beginning of this season expected to fill the void left by the departure of Roy Keane. Sir Alex wasted no time in handing him the Number 16 shirt worn by Keano previously. He reportedly cost us 14 million quid, pretty expensive but Sir Alex really must rate him as an earlier bid short of 10 million quid was rejected by Spurs.

Michael Carrick is the product of West Ham Youth System which has produced the likes of Rio, Joe Cole and Frank Lampard to name a famous few. His calmness and control over the ball are some of his strong points which persuaded Sir Alex into signing him. SAF said of Carrick: “Roy was a possession player, a straightforward A to B passer,” he explained. Michael is a far more imaginative passer of the ball.”

Carrick broke into the Hammers’ midfield at the start of the 2000-01 season and has not looked back since. He soon caught the eye of Sven-Goran Erikkson who handed Carrick his international debut against Mexico in May 2001. West Ham were eventually relegated that season but Carrick decided to stay. West Ham narrowly missed out on promotion the next year, losing to Crystal Palace in the play-off finals and Carrick decided the time was right to move back to the Premiership. Spurs eventually landed him for 3 million quid.

He put in several impressive displays for the Spurs midfield. He was subsequently selected for England’s World Cup Squad and put in good performances at the finals. The summer of 2006 saw him moving to United with much expected of him. Only time will tell whether this young geordie will truly fill Keano’s boots.