Michael Carrick biography: Footballer

Michael Carrick biography

English football player

Soccer player

lonympics biography

Michael Adrian Carrick

born 28 July 1981 in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear is an English footballer who has played for Manchester United, West Ham United, Swindon Town, Birmingham City + Tottenham Hotspur as a midfielder.

Career

West Ham United 136 (6)
Swindon Town (loan) 6 (2)
Birmingham City (loan) 5 (0)
Tottenham Hotspur 64 (2)
Manchester United 31 (3)

Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 5 May, 2007.

National team

England 12 (0)

National team caps and goals correct
as of 7 February 2007

Club career
Carrick became involved with football when he was five, playing five a side football with Wallsend Boys Club on Saturday nights, courtesy of his father's volunteer work at the club. Football became serious for him at the age of 12 when he was selected for Wallsend Schools and later on North Tyneside Schools'. Whilst playing for Wallsend Boys' Club under 16s, he was capped for the England Boys club side. During the school years, and years up until his move to West Ham United, Carrick played as a centre forward, it was only at West Ham where he started to play more often as a midfielder.

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 watched Carrick for a few years playing for Wallsend Boys Club. Thus, Carrick's professional career began at the famous youth academy of West Ham United in 1998. A notable contribution during the season 98-99 came from him in the FA Youth Cup final, where he helped, alongside another rising star Joe Cole, West Ham to a 9-0 victory over Coventry City, scoring two goals himself.

Carrick made a senior debut as a substitute replacing Rio Ferdinand in a 3-0 win at Bradford City in August 1999. He spent two periods on loan, a couple of months at Swindon Town and a month at Birmingham City, and made a few more appearances for West Ham. But in 2000-01, his exploits in his first full season for West Ham gained widespread recognition, resulting in his being nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year award (Steven Gerrard of Liverpool FC was the winner).

2002-2003 was a season to forget for Carrick, as much of it for him was plagued by injury and West Ham were eventually relegated from the FA Premier League at the end of the season. Carrick decided to stay with the club, playing for them the subsequent season 2003-2004 in the division now called Football League Championship. 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, stopping any potential transfer.

Tottenham Hotspur
Before the beginning of season 2004-2005, keen to ply his trade in the highest league, Carrick moved to Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £2.75 million. The following two seasons at Tottenham were a major success for him as Spurs enjoyed an upturn in footballing fortunes with major investments in new players and a new management. Under the guidance of Spurs manager Martin Jol, Carrick rose to fame with Spurs during the seasons 2004-2005 and 2005-2006, gaining the sort of reputation that eventually led to his transfer to Manchester United on 31 July 2006.

Manchester United
On 31 July 2006, Carrick moved to Manchester United. An initial bid of £10 million by United was rejected, though a later bid with a £14 million basic fee, potentially rising to £18.6 million depending on club success, was accepted. This potentially makes Carrick the fifth most expensive player acquired by Manchester United.

Carrick wears the number 16 shirt for Manchester United, previously worn by Roy Keane.

He made his Premiership debut for United on August 23, 2006, as a substitute in United's 3-0 away win over Charlton Athletic. He had sustained an injury in his original debut against Porto in the Amsterdam Tournament. He made a starting debut against Watford on August 26, 2006 at Vicarage road, which United went on to win 2-1.

As of January 2007, Carrick had started almost every game for United in the 2006/7 season, He was briefly injured in late December, at which point his 'holding' role was filled in by John O'Shea or Darren Fletcher.

Carrick scored his first goal for Manchester United on January 13, 2007 - the Reds' second goal in a 3-1 win over Aston Villa at Old Trafford in the Premier League.

On April 10, 2007, Carrick scored two long range right foot curlers against A.S. Roma in United's 7-1 victory in the UEFA Champions League at Old Trafford. He opened the scoring with his first, setting United on their way to the semi finals.

On April 24 2007, Carrick almost had a chance to score a third goal in the UEFA Champions League against AC Milan when he was left unmarked in the box but failed to punish the Milan defence as he left his shot wide from less than 5 yards out. United eventually won the first leg 3-2 at Old Trafford thanks to two Wayne Rooney second half goals but lost the return leg 3-0 at San Siro with United putting on a poor performance.

International career
He made his first senior international start in May 2005 during England's tour of the USA, having made two substitute appearances in 2001. England national football team manager, Sven-Göran Eriksson considered Carrick to be a good option as a holding midfielder with others such as Scott Parker and Ledley King. On 8 May 2006, Carrick was named in England's squad for the 2006 World Cup by manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. Carrick played in one World Cup game, the second round match against Ecuador, which England won 1-0. For the next game against Portugal, it was felt that a more cautious approach was needed, thus Owen Hargreaves replaced him who was playing at rightback in the Ecuador game. As of April 2007, Carrick's fortunes at international level since have been mixed. He has been starting games, but in his last three starts he has suffered two defeats and a draw.

Honours

FA Premier League- 2006/07

Wallsend is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England.

Misspell

Carick Carric Carrik Caric

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