Manchester United captain Michael Carrick has been labelled the English John Obi Mikel by the media in the United Kingdom.

The central midfielder, who can also be deployed as an emergency center back, recently announced that he will call time on a 19-year professional career at the end of the 2017-2018 season.

It has been argued that Carrick and Mikel are similar players but the Nigerian outranked the Englishman in some performance stats.

Writing on talkSPORT, Michael Benson said : ''Michael Carrick was a decent player, but he was basically just an English John Obi Mikel.

''Not an English Xavi, not an English Busquets, not an English flippin’ Lothar Matthaus – an English Mikel.''

He added : ''According to Squawka, in every Premier League season dating back to 2012/13 (which is as far back as their website goes) John Obi Mikel had a higher pass completion rate than Michael Carrick.

''There was normally only 1-2 per cent difference between them, but it is still ridiculous for a player who is supposedly so underrated to get outdone on one of his key attributes by Chelsea’s defensive midfielder.

'If you instead compare Mikel with Xavi, the Spaniard tops the Nigerian in every season by about five per cent.''

Former West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur star Carrick joined Manchester United in 2006, in the same year that Chelsea finally signed Mikel, who had been linked with a move to the Red Devils.

Igho Kingsley

Photo Credit : chelseafc.com