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Carrick: I had to keep the faith

MICHAEL CARRICK insists he never lost faith in his ability to prove he could be a Manchester United star.

The England midfielder’s £18.6million switch from Spurs last summer raised more than a few eyebrows.

Some quiet early performances put even more question marks over the wisdom of the purchase.

But the longer the season went on the better Carrick got and he became an integral part of United’s title success.

Carrick, 26 on Saturday, said: “Maybe I did prove people wrong. But you can’t think about doing that or it will distract you from your job.

“I know it was a massive move for me but I always believed in myself.

“In fact, I felt more like a United player the longer the season went on.

“I had to get used to the way we play and the different expectations and pressures from what I was used to.

“But if someone said at the start of the campaign I would have a championship medal, play over 50 games and score six goals I’d have taken that.

“Having said that, playing with the players here I always believed we would win the League.

“Going through what I did last season was a great experience. I now know how hard it is to win a title and it was special to do it in my first season.

“But we are not satisfied we have to keep going and keep improving.

“Last season I learned a lot along the way from the likes of Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs about just what it takes to win a title.

“They have been there so long and achieved so many things.

“Those players always look forward and not back and that’s what people like myself have to do now.”

United have strengthened this summer with the arrivals of Nani, Anderson and Owen Hargreaves — while Carlos Tevez could be joining, too.

Carrick believes they had to strengthen as he expects the competition for the title to be even greater this coming campaign.

He added: “When you are the champions everyone wants to beat you even more.

“Liverpool have strengthened with Fernando Torres and I believe Chelsea will be better again. So everyone at United will be on their toes.”

Carrick had an emotional experience on this Far East tour when he joined squad mates Patrice Evra and Darren Gibson on a visit to the Yung Suk Borin Orphanage in Seoul.

Their visit brought huge smiles from the children aged between three and 18.

Carrick said: “When you are on the other side of the world and you see how excited the kids are because you have come to visit them it is very humbling.

“It makes you appreciate what playing football is about.”