How will Michael Carrick's Manchester United career be remembered? Well, let's look at the reaction to his arrival almost 12 years ago and then assess the facts.
When he was signed from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2006, the response was pretty unanimous in the press. United had overpaid, perhaps in part in a bid to keep up with Chelsea's lavish double swoop for Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko, but more down to the ability of Spurs chairman Daniel Levy to drive a hard bargain.
Two years earlier, the White Hart Lane club had coughed up £2.