Michael Carrick

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Michael Carrick
Personal information
Full name	Michael Carrick
Date of birth	July 28, 1981
Place of birth	Wallsend, England
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.89 m)
Position	Defensive Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Manchester United
Number	16
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1998-2004 1999 2000 2004-2006 2006-	West Ham United → Swindon Town (loan) → Birmingham City (loan) Tottenham Hotspur Manchester United	136 (6) 6 (2) 2 (0) 64 (2) 9 (0)
National team**
2001-	England	11 (0)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:13, 1 November 2006 (UTC). ** National team caps and goals correct as of 15 November 2006.

Michael Carrick (born 28 July 1981 in Wallsend, Tyneside) is an English football player who currently plays for Manchester United as a midfielder. He completed a move from Tottenham Hotspur on 31st July 2006 in a deal with a £14 million basic fee which may rise up to £18.6 million (dependent on club and player success) [1], potentially making him the fifth most expensive player acquired by Manchester United.

England national football team manager, Sven-Göran Eriksson considered Carrick to be a good option as holding midfielder with others such as Scott Parker and Ledley King. He has an excellent range and variation of passing which is applied with his sense of positioning and calm nature when in control of the ball. He made his first senior international start in May 2005 during England's tour of the USA, having made two substitute appearances in 2001. Now Sven-Göran Eriksson's reign has come to an end and his step-up to a club of United's stature, many believe it is only a matter of time before he cements a place in the starting line up.^{[citation needed]}

Having studied at Wallsend's Western Middle School and Burnside Community High School until completing his GCSEs in 1997, he was courted by many clubs before being taken to West Ham by Wallsend based North-East Scouts Dave Mooney and Bill Gibbs, who had watched Michael for a few years playing for Wallsend Boys' Club. Whilst as a youth team member at West Ham he appeared on a satellite TV show looking at how young footballers coped with life. He was part of the 1999 West Ham team that won the FA Youth Cup final, recording the largest aggregate score win in the competition's history (9-0 against Coventry City). He made his senior debut as a substitute replacing Rio Ferdinand in a 3-0 win at Bradford City in August 1999.

After West Ham's relegation in 2003, Carrick stayed with the club for a season before moving on, joining a list of high profile players that left, including Joe Cole, Jermain Defoe and Fredi Kanouté. At the time, a number of clubs were credited with an interest in Carrick, such as Portsmouth, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. It appeared that Arsenal were winning the race to sign him, before Patrick Vieira decided to stay at the club, thus stopping any potential transfer. Carrick then moved to Tottenham Hotspur. He is now considered one of England's best talents and has proved that with his performances for Tottenham so far, capped to date by scoring his first goal for the club - a late winner in the home match against Sunderland along with a second against Manchester City in a 2-1 home victory in the 2004-05 season.

Carrick was one of the Spurs squad members to be struck down by a virus on the evening of 6 May 2006 before their crucial final game of the season against West Ham United. A win would have seen Spurs qualify for the Champions League for the first time ever, ahead of arch-rivals Arsenal. However, several players woke up the next morning feeling ill and Spurs tried to get the game postponed. They countered that the players needed extra time to get fluids and some food on board as they had not been able to eat until then. Due to a number of factors, a suitable time could not be agreed to reschedule the game. Additionally, the Premier League were not willing to rule out punishment if the game did not go ahead, so Spurs turned down the option of a minimal postponement of two hours and played the game on time with several key players clearly not match fit. Spurs went on to lose the game and surrendered 4th position in the league and a Champions League place to Arsenal. Conspiracy theories abound, but manager Martin Jol did not think dirty tricks had been going on. Carrick only lasted 63 minutes before having to be substituted.

On 8 May 2006, Carrick was named in England's squad for the 2006 World Cup by manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. On the eve of England's first group game against Paraguay, he was the subject of a £10m bid from Manchester United, which was rejected by Spurs. However, a later bid of up to £18.6m, depending on appearances and success, was accepted. On July 31st 2006 Carrick passed a medical and agreed personal terms with Manchester United.

Carrick wears the famous number 16 shirt for United, previously worn by former captain and United legend Roy Keane. [2]

He made his Premiership debut for United on August 23, 2006 coming on as a substitute in United's 3-0 win over Charlton Athletic and he was immediately influential creating chances for goals. He had sustained an injury in his original debut against Porto in the Amsterdam Tournament. He made his starting debut against Watford on the 25th August 2006 at Vicarage road; United went on to win 2-1

Carrick sustained an injury in only his second appearance for the club against Ajax in the Amsterdam Tournament. His surname Carrick is a Gaelic word, meaning 'rock'.

[edit] External links

• Michael Carrick career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile at Man Utd Website

	England squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists
1 Robinson | 2 Neville | 3 A. Cole | 4 Gerrard | 5 Ferdinand | 6 Terry | 7 Beckham | 8 Lampard | 9 Rooney | 10 Owen | 11 J. Cole | 12 Campbell | 13 James | 14 Bridge | 15 Carragher | 16 Hargreaves | 17 Jenas | 18 Carrick | 19 Lennon | 20 Downing | 21 Crouch | 22 Carson | 23 Walcott | Coach: Eriksson

Manchester United F.C. - Current Squad
1 Van der Sar | 2 Neville | 3 Evra | 4 Heinze | 5 Ferdinand | 6 Brown | 7 Ronaldo | 8 Rooney | 9 Saha | 11 Giggs | 13 Park | 14 Smith | 15 Vidić | 16 Carrick | 18 Scholes | 20 Solskjær | 22 O'Shea | 23 Richardson | 24 Fletcher | 25 D. Jones | 27 Silvestre | 29 Kuszczak | 34 Shawcross | 35 Lee | 36 Gray | 38 Heaton | 41 Marsh | 42 Barnes | 43 Rose | 49 R. Jones | Manager: Ferguson