The most overrated underrated player in the history of football – Opinion
Michael Carrick is an alright footballer.
He’s good enough to play for Manchester United in that deep-lying central midfield role, but he’s always been one of their lesser players. He’s no star and he’s certainly NOT underrated.
In fact, so many people bang on about how “underrated” Michael Carrick supposedly is that he’s actually now become massively overrated.
I’m not sure who first started perpetuating this myth that Carrick has been some sort of secret ‘English Xavi’ over the past decade, but it needs to stop. NOW. He’s nothing special for goodness’ sake!
Like I said at the start, Michael Carrick is a decent player. I’ve got nothing against the guy, but he’s basically just an English John Obi Mikel.
Not an English Xavi, not an English Busquets, not an English flippin’ Lothar Matthaus - he’s an English Mikel.
I’m not usually a fan of using statistics to prove a point in an argument like this because anyone can just pick out the ones that suit their own agenda (which is essentially what I’ve done here, but bear with me).
However, according to Squawka, in every Premier League season dating back to 2012/13 (which for some reason is as far back as their website goes) John Obi Mikel had a higher pass completion rate than Michael Carrick. There’s normally only 1-2% difference between them, but it is still just ridiculous for a player who is supposedly so underrated to get outdone on one of his key attributes by Chelsea’s Nigerian defensive midfielder.
If you replace Michael Carrick with Xavi in this comparison, the Spaniard tops Mikel every season by about 5%.
United fans still sing his name to the tune of ‘Magic’ by Pilot, shouting: “It’s Carrick, you knowww, hard to believe it’s not Scholes.”
Are you all nuts? Paul Scholes is one of the greatest midfielders of his generation, he’s perhaps the closest thing to an ‘English Xavi’ there’s ever been. Michael Carrick may be from the same country as him, he may wear the same shirt as him and he may play in a similar position to him, but in terms of ability there’s simply no comparison between the two.
I’m aware this chant is intended to be a little tongue-in-cheek, but some people speak so highly of Carrick it’s as if they’re taking it seriously!
At the end of the day, everyone talks a good game with regards to Michael Carrick being underrated, but the ultimate defining factor that proves he never really was is the fact he’s never even been approached by any other major club in Europe.
Look at Scholes who was chased by Inter back in 2000, when their team was littered with the likes of Seedorf, Zanetti, Vieri, Baggio and Ronaldo. Or look at Xabi Alonso who left Liverpool for Real Madrid and went on to play for Bayern Munch. Look at Javier Mascherano who went and forged a career at Barcelona.
And then look at Michael Carrick - linked with Inter and AC Milan in 2015, who had just finished 8th and 10th in Serie A respectively. Aside from that - nothing.
The reason Michael Carrick has stayed at Manchester United is because he’s simply not good enough to go elsewhere. So let’s stop all this rubbish about him being some under-used, underrated second coming eh? If he were, he wouldn’t have spent his career as one of the lesser players at a top club, just like John Obi Mikel.