Manchester United midfielder Carrick to retire at end of season

Dom Farrell

Manchester United midfielder Carrick to retire at end of season image

Michael Carrick will call time on his professional career at the end of this season, the Manchester United and England midfielder has confirmed.

The 36-year-old club captain has featured sparingly for United this season, having been sidelined earlier in the campaign due to a heart scare.

He returned to action last month but, speaking at a news conference ahead of Tuesday's Champions League last-16 match against Sevilla, Carrick confirmed the current campaign will be his last.

"There comes a time when, as much as you don't like, your body tells you it's time to stop playing football," he said.

"That's pretty much where I'm at, which is fine."

In January, United boss Jose Mourinho said he expected Carrick to retire at the end of 2017-18 and join the Old Trafford coaching staff – a move the player himself acknowledges as his likely next step.

"It's kind of being sorted out, we're still talking about it to be honest. But it's looking likely, yeah."

Carrick joined United from Tottenham for £18million in 2006 and has played 463 times for the Red Devils.

A graduate of West Ham's youth academy alongside the likes of Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand, Carrick went on to win five Premier League titles under Alex Ferguson.

He became a Champions League winner when United saw off Chelsea on penalties in Moscow in 2008 and, although he lost subsequent finals in Europe's top competition against Barcelona in 2009 and 2011, last season's Europa League triumph completed an individual clean sweep of major domestic and European club trophies.

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Carrick, who was capped 34 times by England, underwent a procedure to correct an irregular heart rhythm, having initially felt unwell during the EFL Cup win over Burton Albion last September.

Now back in action, he is happy to be retiring on his own terms.

"It started in the Burton game and then happened again in training," Carrick added, discussing his health problem.

"I'm clear now, it took a bit of time to get over. There were two or three times when I wondered whether it was worth still playing, but I soon got over that.

"I understood that I wouldn't be playing as many games, but I've been training hard and trying to keep fit. I wanted to finish on my own terms."

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.