Michael Carrick’s latest attempt to claim a key place in the England side has been thwarted after the Manchester United midfielder hurt his groin in training at St George’s Park and was ruled out of Saturday’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Slovenia.
The 33-year-old pulled up 20 minutes into a light session on Wednesday and, having undergone a scan to determine the severity of the injury, was formally released from Roy Hodgson’s squad, who go on to play a friendly against Scotland in Glasgow next week. The Tottenham Hotspur winger Andros Townsend is also a major doubt for those fixtures as he continues to struggle with an ankle injury sustained in the first half of Spurs’ home defeat to Stoke on Sunday, but will be assessed again on Thursday.
Carrick was the likelier starter against Slovenia despite having only returned to full training at United last month after rupturing ankle ligaments in pre-season, an injury which required surgery on Louis van Gaal’s first official day as the club’s manager, with his latest fitness issue another set-back for club and country. The player had been hoping to secure his 32nd cap, if his first since the final World Cup qualifier against Poland 13 months ago, having featured only twice to date this term, as a substitute in the Manchester derby and for the entirety of Saturday’s win over Crystal Palace.
He returned home on Wednesday night and will undergo rehabilitation at Carrington with his participation in United’s trip to Arsenal when the Premier League resumes on 22 November under some doubt. The Football Association have confirmed the player will not be replaced in Hodgson’s squad.
The timing of the injury is in keeping with Carrick’s stop-start international career, which has already spanned 13 years ‚– he was the longest serving player in Hodgson’s selection having been capped by a quartet of permanent managers ‚– and four World Cups, albeit he has only been selected for one of those tournaments. Indeed, he has mustered only 754 minutes of competitive football since making his debut against the Netherlands in 2001, too often finding himself the third man alongside the likes of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard for midfield roles. To put that into context, his former club-mate at Old Trafford, Danny Welbeck, has managed 1,227 minutes since 2011.
His had been a surprise inclusion for the Slovenia fixture given he had only been on stand-by for the summer’s World Cup in Brazil, and with Hodgson having placed so much emphasis on developing the youth coming through the national set-up. The player himself admitted to have been unsure whether he would ever represent his country again. Yet the England manager has adopted a diamond formation and the midfielder – a five-time Premier League winner who also has one European Cup to his name – appeared the most natural fit to operate as a deep-lying player in that system.
