Carrick almost joined Arsenal

With his then side West Ham sat in the First Division in 2004, Michael Carrick had angled for a move back into the Premier League, wanting to progress at the age of 23. 

He originally looked to be on his way to Harry Redknapp's Portsmouth, before Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein phoned to express his club's interest in the player.

In his autobiography, 'Michael Carrick: Between the Lines', Carrick spoke of the call. "On the way home [from Portsmouth], we got another call. Arsenal again, asking us to meet Arsene. As it happened we were driving past his home in north London, so we arranged to call in on the way. Within an hour I was sitting in the front room of Arsene Wenger’s house, pinching myself. 

"Could this really be happening? Arsenal! Could I really be on the verge of signing for the Invincibles who’d just gone through the season unbeaten?

"We talked for almost an hour about football. Wenger had the Community Shield at the weekend but was spending an hour with me, so surely he had to be interested in signing me? 'Let’s get Cardiff out the way, and we’ll see you Monday,' Wenger said as we left. Things were moving so fast I needed a few minutes to put it all into perspective. 

"That night, I sat at the bottom of my bed and talked it through with Lisa, just running all the possibilities through my mind. It came from nowhere. My head was spinning. Arsenal were finishing either first or second in the Premiership. Lisa knows I’m not a big talker and tend to keep things to myself and find a way to deal with it. This was different.

"I was moving from the First Division to a team in the Champions League. I’d heard [Patrick] Vieira was leaving Arsenal and that opened up a space in midfield, so it seemed nailed on that Monday morning I’d be an Arsenal player.

Then, however, came the emergence of youngster Cesc Fabregas against Manchester United in the Community Shield. "I saw that a kid, Cesc Fabregas, only 17, started in Vieira’s place. Fabregas played a blinder but I didn’t think too much about the significance. I sat at home on Sunday night waiting for the call to arrange details of the next day. Arsenal! I couldn’t wait.

"But I waited, and waited, and that call never came. The next day, I had to go into training at West Ham instead and, on the way, David phoned to say he’d had a call from Dein. David relayed the gist of his message, like, 'I’m sorry, the manager says we don’t need Michael. Fabregas is coming through like he is. Sorry, the deal’s off.' Fabregas’s performance changed Wenger’s mind about needing me."

In the end, Carrick joined Arsenal's North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur after another call came from out of nowhere.