Michael Carrick Biography
Michael Carrick (born 28 July 1981 in Wallsend, Tyneside) is an English football player who currently plays for Tottenham Hotspur as a midfielder after coming from West Ham United. Carrick is considered by Sven-Göran Eriksson, the England national football team manager, to be a good possible 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 start in May 2005 during England's tour of the USA having made two substitute appearances in 2001. 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 deciding on West Ham. 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 debut as a substitute replacing Rio Ferdinand in a 3-0 win at Bradford City in August 1999.
Michael is one of many West Ham players who moved on after they were relegated. He did, however, stick with the Hammers for a season before moving on. A number of clubs were credited with an interest in Carrick, such as Portsmouth F.C., Arsenal F.C and Tottenham Hotspur. It appeared that Arsenal F.C 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. Other high profile players that left include Joe Cole, Jermain Defoe and Fredi Kanouté. He is now considered one of England's best talents and has proved that with his performances for Tottenham so far this season, 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.
As of 2 March 2006, Carrick has played for England 5 times. He was named in England's World Cup squad for the 2006 finals in Germany on May 8 2006.
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 by manager Sven Goran Eriksson to be in England's squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. On the eve of England's first group game against Paraguay, he was subjected to a £10m bid by Manchester United, which was rejected by Spurs. Manchester United are reported to be negotiating with Tottenham Hotspur over an increased £14m deal for the midfielder, which is said to meet their valuation. However, Tottenham Hotspur manager Martin Jol has stated that United should forget about signing Carrick, who he regards as a key player. This statement has been ignored by the media, who continue to speculate anyway. More recently, unsubstantiated rumours have linked Carrick to arch-rivals Arsenal as boss Arsene Wenger has long admired the former West Ham man. Normally, such rumours would be considered ridiculous, however, Spurs are likely to sign Didier Zokora who has much the same role as Carrick, and therefore would confuse his status with the club. An offer of £15m is thought to be enough to pry Carrick away from Spurs.