Playing for England made me depressed, Carrick reveals
Midfielder admits he asked not to be picked Low point was in 2010 at South Africa World Cup
Michael Carrick has revealed he asked not to be picked for England after becoming “depressed” on international duty.
Manchester United midfielder Carrick won 34 senior caps for his country, the last of them in a friendly against Spain in November 2015, but he has admitted his experience at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa left a lasting impression.
Carrick told BBC Two’s Premier League Show: “I’d been in the squad a long time and I’ll be honest, I was finding it hard going away with England.
“I didn’t mind going away with United pre-season for three weeks or whatever and coming back, but going with England, it was almost depressing in a way.
“It made me really down, so I came to the point after South Africa where I thought, ‘I can’t do that again.’
“People would be saying, ‘Pull yourself together and be grateful for it,’ and I understood the position I was in, the privileged position I was in, but I just found it so hard and I couldn’t deal with it any more.
“I was probably on the verge of . . . yes, I was depressed at times, yes. I told the FA, ‘Look, please don’t pick me.’ ”
Carrick, 36, won the Premier League five times and was regularly picked by Sir Alex Ferguson in United’s glory days, but only managed to win 34 caps for England.
He did not play a game for his country after the 2010 World Cup until two years later in a friendly against Italy, following the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine.
The Manchester United midfielder worked his way back into England reckoning and was a regular in their 2014 World Cup qualification campaign.
He was, however, left out of the final squad after enduring a difficult season under new Manchester United manager David Moyes and instead Frank Lampard and Ross Barkley were taken to Brazil.
Carrick played only one game at a major tournament for his country – a victory in the knockout stages of the 2006 World Cup against Ecuador in Germany.
Carrick, who also played for Bayern Munich and Manchester City, last month announced his intention to retire as a player at the end of the current season, when he will join the coaching staff at Old Trafford.