England manager Roy Hodgson fears the worst regarding Michael Carrick after the Manchester United midfielder left the Jose Rico Perez Stadium on crutches following the defeat to Spain last night.
The 34-year-old was stretchered off during the second half in Alicante, comforted by Red Devil colleague Juan Mata whose side won 2-0 thanks to goals from Mario Gaspar and Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla.
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Hodgson suspects that Carrick, who was later seen pictured with his right leg in a protective boot according to Sky Sports, suffered ankle ligament damage making his 34th international appearance.
Sky Sports quote the Three Lions boss as saying: “Michael Carrick doesn’t look good.
“He’s got a severely twisted ankle which normally means ligament damage. We won’t know that of course until he’s had an X-ray or a scan tomorrow, but it doesn’t look good.”
The Manchester Evening News reports that Carrick will return to England on Saturday for a scan to discover the extent of the injury, but he seems unlikely to feature against Watford next weekend.
The former Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United midfielder has started 10 of United’s 20 games this season, with Louis van Gaal managing his schedule in light of recent fitness troubles.
With Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger now on the books at Old Trafford, a lengthy layoff for Carrick may not be as big a blow as it would have been for United in previous seasons.
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