£14 million well spent.
Michael Carrick cost Manchester United just £14 million when he arrived from Tottenham Hotspur in 2006 and he’s repaid every penny with his reliability over the 12 years that followed.
United manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed that Carrick will start against Watford this weekend in what will be the veteran midfielder’s final home game for the club.
Carrick is set to join Mourinho’s coaching staff once this season wraps up and he will go down as an Old Trafford legend after 464 appearances for the Red Devils.
The 36-year-old has played alongside some of the greatest players in Premier League history but has looked past the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs in naming the best he’s played with.
Carrick has unsurprisingly picked Paul Scholes as the pick of the very talented bunch.
“I still think I’m just fortunate to have seen him train every day and having the best seat in the house, stood next to him passing the ball and seeing what he could do with it,” he told ESPN FC.
“It was just outrageous how good he was. I could pick 10-15 players that I played with over the years, Ronaldo, Wazza [Rooney], Rio [Ferdinand], Giggsy, Gaz Nev, he was an unbelievable full-back, unbelievable captain. But Scholesy just nicks it.”
Carrick won five Premier League titles during his time at United but the highlight of his career was almost certainly the club’s 2008 Champions League triumph.
He may not have scored many goals in his time with the Red Devils (24) but he has netted some absolute crackers, memorably scoring twice in a 7-1 Champions League win against Roma in 2007.
“That was right up there as one of the most special nights,” Carrick said of that game. “It summed up those early years at United — the speed, the intensity, the quality of football was too much for Roma to cope with, but we kind of surprised ourselves, I think.”
