Michael Carrick bowed out of football at Old Trafford on Sunday to little fanfare – a trait that underlined a glittering and glorious yet ultimately understated career.
Silky and smooth, safe and sure. That was Carrick to a tee. A fine footballer, but amid a generation of engine-room galacticos – and that’s just in England – he was never the goal-getting headline grabber earmarked for poster boy superstardom.
The highest praise was reserved for contemporaries Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard – all of whom dwarfed his 34 England caps. A paltry amount for someone so gifted.
Even at United, he endured a chastening introduction. Brought into replace a combative warrior, the calm and quiet Carrick was the antithesis of club icon Roy Keane, with his welcome made more arduous after being burdened with the Irishman’s hallowed No16 jersey.
Carrick eventually won over the cynics and, upon his retirement, No16 enters club folklore with the 16th most appearances (464) and as one of their very finest midfielders.
Still, even though he is widely adored at Old Trafford, his languid style and laid-back nature often saw him operate from the shadows.
Carrick is classed as a more elite operator than workhorses and disrupters of Park Ji-sung and Darren Fletcher’s ilk. Yet he was rarely offered the spotlight thrust upon Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Scholes, or wrestled and horded for himself by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Carrick, talented and creative, instead was happy to go quietly about his business.
Michael Carrick walks off the Old Trafford turf for the final time on Sunday.
It was a bit of business that ended up being one of the biggest bargains Sir Alex Ferguson ever struck – an £18.6 million steal from Tottenham in 2006.
With 18,978 he recorded the third most Premier League passes in history. Only Cesc Fabregas (18,994) and Gareth Barry (20,616) have made more, with fourth-placed Yaya Toure more than 3,000 behind on 15,744.
He has the fifth-most touches (22,525) in league history, an overall average pass completion of 86.95 per cent, made just the solo error leading to a goal and was never sent off.
That’s not to say he never put his boot in; Carrick made 582 interceptions and won 493 tackles.
Even in the twilight of his career, with little fuel left in the tank, Carrick remained a Rolls Royce of a player. He featured in 38 games in total in his penultimate campaign, aged 35, in 2016/17, 23 of them in the Premier League, where he remained among the elite.
His 89 per cent pass completion was the eighth best mark that season (seventh among midfielders), while his 1,263 passes placed him 76th overall, although every player above him made many more than his 23 appearances.
Even now, at 36 and with a waning influence on United this season, in which he played just five times for Jose Mourinho’s side due to a combination of advancing years and a troublesome heart irregularity that was discovered by chance earlier in the season, his final appearance proved the sizeable void his transition into coaching leaves.
Despite the advancing years and the fading fitness, Carrick left an indelible mark on the club on his final appearance when he orchestrated the only goal of the game for Marcus Rashford.
We're all family at #MUFC 👪
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) 15 May 2018
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The veteran’s trademark vision and precise passing caught the Watford defence off guard, with an insightful ball over the top finding Juan Mata, who beat the offside trap and unselfishly squared for Rashford to tap in what turned out to be the winner.
The fact that the goal was started by the past of Manchester United and finished by the future of the club is telling.
For all the failures in the post-Ferguson era in terms of misguided player recruitment and wasted talent, a failure to find a suitable replacement for the retiring Carrick is possibly the biggest oversight.
That in itself is in keeping with Carrick being overlooked throughout a nevertheless distinguished career.
Although he wasn’t as celebrated publicly as box office midfield names like Paul Scholes and Paul Pogba, he is exactly the type of player United yearn for most.
The Red Devils may have finished a distant 19 points off the top of the table and behind bewitching Manchester rivals City this season, but the gap is not truly indicative of the gulf in class between the teams.
United are not all that far away from competing with and even toppling their noisy neighbours and becoming England’s elite club once again.
Mourinho is the right man for the job, as his two trophies in two seasons prove, with possibly a third major title to come this weekend.
He has much of the personnel too, but he must get the best out of the likes of Pogba and Antony Martial, while continuing to be patient with the progress of Rashford – one thing he’s done admirably but has been unfairly chastised for this season.
— Michael Carrick (@carras16) 13 May 2018
But what he, United and their fans are all crying out for desperately is that coveted Carrick replacement.
Someone who can accept and distribute possession elegantly, quickly and under pressure. If he can be found, Pogba and United’s attack will finally flourish.
Feeding the flair players who will hopefully score the goals and grab the limelight, while the future Carrick turns back to the centre circle, ready to do it all over again.
While other individuals take the glory and the column inches, the new Carrick will just be content to be a cog in the machine, deeming his reward as playing a small, understated, yet pivotal role in returning a sleeping giant to gargantuan success.
