Manchester United “Sign” Carrick From Tottenham? Not Yet…
The Sun, The Independent and the Guardian are all harping about Manchester United signing Carrick from Tottenham next week.
Let me clear things out for you - the only thing these people know is that now that Ruud is definitely going to Real Madrid, Manchester United will be using the money to sign a midfielder. The player closest to a deal for United is currently Carrick, so everyone is on their case talking about how Carrick will be signed next week.
To give them some credit - they could be right, and what everyone is trying to do is to get their foot in the door first. The only thing that made me suspicious was how all three newspapers citing baseless rumours of this summer in the same breath as discussing Ruud’s departure and Carrick’s possible arrival.
The Guardian talks about Torres (a player Manchester United never contacted), The Sun talks about a John O’Shea plus 10 mil offer for Carrick (United does not sell their best players, and O’Shea for all his faults was one of the few players to come out of last season with his reputation enhanced) while The Independent raises the Diarra and Mascherano rumours again, not bothering to mention that the Diarra lead is cold and Mascherano was a pipe dream brought on by desperate rumour-mongers.
I’ve been saying ever since Manchester United bid 10 mil for Carrick that a) he wasn’t ‘exactly’ what United need and b) he was too expensive. And as I said in this article, Carrick is an excellent player with serious limitations. If he can work on his tackling and man-marking, he could easily be an integral part of England’s midfield in Euro 2008. If he cannot, then the 14.5 to 18 mil that we’re supposed to be paying for him will have been wasted.
Spare a thought for Tottenham fans - you guys must be gutted to lose Carrick. Oh well…you’re sad, we’re not so happy, is it that we don’t know Carrick’s value or that you rate him too highly?
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Well written and very spot on, both about the newspaper reports and the value of Michael Carrick. If we sell him for the admitted sum I will be satisified but a bit gutted, not because of the players abilities but the integral part he’s been of the spurs team that played so well last year.
If he leaves however I am sure Spurs have more than enough replacements, the only problem is we will not progress as expected this season because any newcomer will take time to have such an impact on the team.
Personally I believe Huddlestone have all the same abilities as Carrick had when he came to us and might very well get even better. So 17 million yes thankyou, let us spend the money on a winger thats better than Duff - and we’re a top4 team again.
COYS!
Michael was a teriffic for Spurs last season and certainly bumped up his worth with some sublime passing. However I would rate him in the 7 million range, certainly not 18 million and I’m a Spurs supporter! Not quite worthy yet of an England shirt, a good holding player, but not a player that gets forward and scores.
I wonder if MU would pay the money talked of in the papers? Spurs have already bought quality back-up in Zokora and and cashing in on Carrick will buy the desperately need Left Midfielder. I can only see positives in this bit of buiness for Spurs.
Carrick is a rarity, the player that had the highest pass completion rate in the Premiership last season, fantastic technical ablity and passing range marks him out as something very special…….how our erstwhile Swedish grandfather could pick the workmanlike but very limited Owen Hargreaves above Carrick probably sums up eaxctly what is wrong with English football…….all huff and puff, no real quality……he will be a true assett to Man utd and I’m gutted my club are losing him,seems its all about wages these days
Most of last season I said to my fellow season ticket holders that I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. Towards the end of last season, probably the final two months he was, to be fair, excellent.
He can spot a pass for sure, dead balls are all but useless and he can’t tackle, having said that he reads the game very well and rarely needs to takle, more intercept.
He is getting better and bringing the ball forward and dribbling, and amazing dribble against ares*nal away was probably his best.
Anyway £15 mill / £17 mill whatever it is, is good money and we’ve got “too many” midfielders anyway, but I’d rather have lost another one!
Good article.
It’s a little strange…rather like the Duff deal, I don’t really know how to feel. If we had got Duff - for a decent wage and not the madness that the toon seem to be paying - I would have been satisfied. But, we all know that he has lost a yard of pace and he may be injury prone. So if he surprises us all and sets the premiership on fire, I’ll probably think “if only” but if he fits perfectly into Newcastle’s mediocre team, I’ll have a wry smile on my face.
In a similar way with Carrick. Did we want him to go…of course not. But watching him last year, I couldn’t quite make my mind up - of course an excellent player, but occasionaly…grrrrrr. So he could be really great for you - in which case I will be left thinking - damn! But on the other hand he may not quite be the real deal - in which case, well £15 (or £17 or £18) is a lot of money…who will we go for with that?
I suppose these uncertainties are one of the things that makes being a supporter err…interesting!
Yes we maybe a little disappointed in losing him but to say we are upset is another feeling altogether different.
As you stated in your article he cant tackle and can man mark for poo.
At the end of the day the only winners out of this deal are Carrick(heading back up north) and Spurs getting a large sum of money to reinvest in a left sided player. Centre of Midfield is an area we are well covered with Tanio, Jenas, Huddlestone, Zakora, Davids.
Cheers for the Cash Utd!
I would say shut up dude. First of all, all your site does is confirm already confirmed news.
Secondly, I do not think you have a better judgement than SAF. I am not saying he has not made mistakes. For eg, Veron. But he has failed only with the fringe players, hoping they will improve and become world class. But with big deals, he has been right except for Veron. which was a lifelong lesson for him.
Maybe Carrick is not the great player, but realize one thing, signing new players encourages the other first team regulars and inspires them for the next season. The same way we get anxious about lack of signings, the players will also get anxious because they want to win medals when they r in a big club like ours. And finally, Carrick is a good player and not a total waste of money.
good article. In answer to your last interesting question I think its a bit of both.We spurs fans have been a bit guilty of ignoring the fact that Mickie can tackle, and he can dribble like a mo’ fo’ (see the arsenal game at highbury last season) He has just started to score for Tottenham too. He’s growing in stature and I think now is the time when he could become a ‘world class player’
That said, he is not worth a 15 to 20 million fee yet. He doesnt yet have the presence, the domination and the aggression that Man U need. . . . YET.
I am still clinging to the hope that he stays. I believe he’s on the brink of becoming the english Vierra, but right now he isnt the answer to any of the big four’s needs.
money or micheal?,. . . . spurs can’t lose.
money or micheal?,. . . . ManU can’t win?
agree.
a) he wasn’t ‘exactly’ what United need
disagree.
b) he was too expensive.
agree with changes.
Carrick is an excellent player with (some) limitations.
Essentially, Carrick is worth the 18M or whatever Man U is going to pay, simply because of supply & demand equation.
In fact I think Man U will be defensively worst off if they sign Carrick to replace Roy Keane. But offensively, it’s quite scary when Carrick picks up Rooney & Ronaldo’s run.
Spurs will benefit more if Carrick stays because of the presence of ball winners like Davids, Zokora & Huddlestone.
Am happy if Carrick demonstrate loyalty to fans, team-mates, and manager, and equally happy if Carrick is sold for the money reported.
This is how far Spurs has come, when either way we can be happy.
Would have liked to keep Carrick but more than happy to part with him for anything over 15 million. Would have valued him at maximum around 9 million myself so definately the deal of the summer for us.
It’s interesting to see that everyone equates “good business” to money. In a competitive world you do sell or give away your best resources to the opposition. ManU are in a weak position at the moment with ageing players and an unbalanced side. They finished above Spurs last year but we have added supposedly better resources to our squad over the summer while ManU have not been able to do this. So why give them a key player who can only improve their squad. For me it is better business to keep Carrick even if he does not play. Who are we going to buy to replace him given that ManU cannot find anyone? Also, who knows if Zakora is Premiership class based on a few World Cup matches at which I did not notice him producing anything spectacular. I think that if it is true that Carrick has gone to ManU than they have acquired a class, young, English mid-field general and we will have yet another foreign import who will disappear during the African Nations cup….what a great deal!