Manchester United: Why Michael Carrick's New Contract Is Good News for the Club

According to the club's official website, Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick has recently signed a new contract with the Old Trafford outfit. The 32-year-old is now set to stay at the club until 2015, with the option of a further year available at the end of this deal.

Carrick has been a United player for just over seven years now and has always given his all when wearing the club’s crest. Since making his debut versus Charlton in August 2006, the midfielder has played 334 times, scoring 21 goals.

He featured as a first choice for the club during in his first few seasons at Old Trafford. However, he soon fell out of favour, as he was consistently left on the bench by Sir Alex Ferguson during the 2009-10 campaign.

He experienced a minor resurgence in 2010-11, playing 11 of 13 Champions League games and returning to the first XI more often in the second half of the season. Paul Scholes' retirement then gave him an opportunity to institute himself as a regular first-team player again in 2011-12.

Carrick has since established himself as a vital first-team player at Old Trafford, and with five Premier League and one Champions League titles to his name, it is fair to say his career has been a huge success.

With a performance score of 327 points on Squawka, Carrick has been United’s most in-form player by a long stretch this season.

Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney and Adnan Januzaj may be grabbing all the plaudits, but it is the ex-Tottenham star who has really been the integral figure for David Moyes’ side since the opening day of the campaign.

At 32 years of age, Carrick is still calling the shots in the United midfield and it seems this contract extension guarantees he will be doing so for at least another season.

As a deep-lying playmaker, he is expected to provide support in both attack and defence, and he does both extremely well. Carrick’s passing game is particularly important to the Red Devils, as is his ability to control a game from the midfield. United are noticeably weaker during matches without the Englishman—he is the club's catalyst in the centre of the pitch.

Having found a teammate 652 times this season, he has almost double the total of his closest competitor on the team, Wayne Rooney (390). Currently, there is no other central midfielder at the club in the mould of Carrick—he is an instrumental player.

Although he is not currently leading the rankings in terms of key passes, he has fashioned 12 chances for United so far this season.

His ability to look up and pick out a through ball is remarkable. We saw him do so often last season, with devastating consequences for the opposition. Although he has no assists to his name this term, last time around, he set up four goals in total.

Carrick also fulfills his defensive duties when called upon. His job in front of the back four mainly involves breaking up opposition attacks. His 40 interceptions this campaign show just how good a reader of the game he is, able to position himself well to cut out opponents' passes to prevent any threat.

His two best performances this season have come against Stoke and Crystal Palace.

Against the former, he played an instrumental role in United’s comeback. In this fixture, he completed 92 percent (including one key pass) of his passes, whilst making one tackle, four interceptions and two clearances. This shows just how well he performs his role as a deep-lying playmaker.

Carrick is hugely important to everything Man Utd do. He is their main midfielder and keeps them ticking over in the same way Scholesy used to.

The news surrounding his contract extension will be a huge boost for the club, despite the fact he is currently unavailable through injury. His absence will put the club at a disadvantage over the next few weeks and Moyes will be looking for him to return to the starting line-up as soon as possible.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats courtesy of Squawka.com.