Wayne Rooney names Man Utd star who should have played more for England

Wayne Rooney says England did not make the most of Michael Carrick and the midfielder ‘probably should have’ played far more games for his country.

Carrick made his England debut in 4-0 victory over Mexico in 2001, aged just 19, after bursting out of West Ham academy ranks alongside the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole.

Across a 14-year England career, Carrick would go on to accumulate a total of 34 caps, while featuring at two major tournaments in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups.

But while Carrick is remembered as one of the finest holding midfielders in Manchester United and Premier League history, he was largely overlooked by England managers in favour of Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes and Lampard during his peak years.

When the Three Lions did call on a less attack-minded midfielder to sit in a deeper position, the likes of Owen Hargreaves and Gareth Barry were often given the nod – with Carrick forced to play a bit-part role.

As a result, Carrick decided to make himself unavailable for England’s European Championship campaign in 2012 – and just three years later, he made his final international appearance in a 2-0 defeat to Spain.

This week, former England captain Gerrard bemoaned the team’s lack of success during their so-called ‘Golden Generation’, branding the squad a collection of ‘egotistical losers’.

A failure to get the best out of Gerrard, Scholes and Lampard was a constant source of frustration for England fans – and Rooney agrees it was ‘obviously’ one of the ‘main’ issues.

But according to Rooney, England managers were just as guilty of overlooking Carrick during his playing days.

Asked about Gerrard’s recent comments, Rooney said on The Wayne Rooney Show: ‘Obviously we didn’t win anything! I wouldn’t quite put it that way but I know what he’s saying because there were a lot of big characters in the dressing room and in the team.

‘To get us all in the team… the main one was obviously Lampard, Scholes and Gerrard.

‘You’d put Michael Carrick in that as well. He was obviously a really good player and didn’t play as much as he probably should have for England.

‘I saw his [Gerrard’s] comments about going up and having like seven hours in his room and stuff and that was tough at times because you’re just lying in bed, watching TV, having food and then going to sleep.

‘A few players did that. I tried to keep myself busy, I’d always be in the hotel, in the massage room, in the physio room and trying to keep myself busy.

‘But listen, we’ve spoken a lot about that generation of players and when you look back, with the players we had, could we have done better? I think we could have, but it wasn’t to be.’

Like Gerrard, Rooney admits he has a far healthier relationship with many of his England contemporaries nowadays compared to when they were team-mates.

‘It’s difficult to have that relationship with Liverpool players and Manchester United players. It’s easier now, I think players do,’ he added.

‘I’d speak to Steven all the time when we were playing. Obviously we’re both Scousers but you do have better relationships now.

‘I think there are better relationships now because you can go and have a beer together and you relax a bit more rather than just always being serious in football.’

Despite some tensions within England squads, though, Rooney insists players would always ‘work hard’ and ‘run for each other’.

‘I was fine with everyone, I got on with everyone and I had no issues,’ the legendary ex-England and Manchester United forward continued.

I was aware that with Becks [David Beckham], Gary Neville and Scholesy and that, you could see they weren’t really going to be close to the Liverpool players.

‘But one thing’s for sure: everybody would work hard for each other and run for each other so I don’t think that was the issue. It was more that it was Liverpool, Manchester United or Liverpool, Chelsea or Manchester United, Arsenal, whatever it was.

‘We just didn’t manage to get over the line, but I didn’t see it [tension between squad members]. I didn’t see it at all.’

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