What’s the story?
Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick will be given a testimonial match at the end of the season to mark his long service to the club. The English midfielder will have completed 11 seasons this summer following his arrival from Tottenham Hotspur in 2006. The likely opponents could be Newcastle United – a club Carrick rejected as a youngster.
It would be the second testimonial in less than 12 months following the game held for club captain Wayne Rooney in August 2016. That match saw the Red Devils take on Rooney’s former club Everton.
As things stand, United are currently in sixth place and well adrift of league leaders Chelsea. Jose Mourinho’s primary target as of now is to get back in the top four and qualify for the Champions League, something the club has failed to do consistently in recent seasons.
However, Carrick did say that although it was important to qualify for the continental tournament, they would not celebrate a top four finish.
“It's not something we’d celebrate, if we finished third, fourth or even second,” Carrick said. You only celebrate when you win, but the Champions League is a big part of this club.
“It's where you want to play, it's where the best players want to play, so in terms of attracting players and all that type of stuff, the club is geared up for that, of course, it is, but you can only celebrate winning, really, and finishing top.”
In case you didn’t know...
Carrick was signed by United in 2006 for a fee of £18.6m and given Roy Keane’s no.16 shirt. It was a coup for United at the time as Carrick was easily Spurs’ best midfielder at the time.
Under Sir Alex Ferguson, Carrick quickly established himself as a key cog in the United engine room playing as a deep-lying midfielder, spreading play and also playing his part on defence with his positioning and ability to make interceptions and break up play.
The heart of the matter
Carrick turns 36 this summer and had found minutes on the pitch hard to come by this season before Mourinho started using him more often. He did not pick the former England international in the starting lineup until November and it was only after Carrick started games that United looked more balanced in midfield.
So far, he has made 10 starts in the Premier League apart from two Europa League appearances. His passing success rates of 90% in the league and 95% in Europe are both the highest in the squad this season.
What’s next?
Carrick had signed a one-year extension last season but Mourinho has hinted that he was probably too old to hand another extension claiming that he wasn’t 30 and that he couldn’t “delete five years”. The midfielder can still play another year or two with his levels of fitness and would receive offers from smaller clubs or make the move to the MLS that many English players such as Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have done before hanging up their boots.
Sportskeeda’s take
Five league titles, a Champions League and an FA Cup. It’s safe to say that Carrick’s career is complete and leading United back to the top four will be a good way to sign off and allow Mourinho to mould the side into a title-winning squad. He has nothing left to prove and it is a shame that Carrick is still underrated in many quarters.
Not many English players had his intelligence in midfield and he was one of few players picked by Xavi and Xabi Alonso when they were asked which English players could get into the Spanish side. Praise doesn’t come any higher than that.
