Michael Carrick has been without doubt one of the players of the season in the English Premier League, guiding Manchester United to their record 20th league title.
The midfielder has been garnering praises, and rightly so, from every corner of the media for his composed performances, but Carrick admitted to being a little amused by the sudden praise, when he feels his performances have been pretty much exactly on a similar plane with what he has been doing for the past few years with Manchester United.
"It slightly amuses me when I see or hear people saying different things (about me), as if I have suddenly appeared from nowhere," Carrick said.
"I have maybe played a little bit better than I have done in the past, but I have been happy with my form for a long time really.
"A couple of people say something and it snowballs from there.
"Obviously you have to be doing things right on the pitch, but it is slightly strange how it has come about this season."
Carrick, indeed, has been an ever-present in the United squad since making his move from Tottenham in 2006, a period in which he has won five Premier League titles and a Champions League.
The United midfielder, who was voted by his teammates as the player of the season, had a 90 percent pass completion rate and completed 2147 passes in the recently-concluded season, which is only second to Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta.
Carrick's good form has caught the attention of Roy Hodgson and the midfielder is expected to play a major part in England's World Cup Qualifiers; but before that, there are two friendly games - against the Republic of Ireland Wednesday and against 2014 World Cup hosts Brazil at the Maracana on Sunday.
"The next challenge is to qualify for the World Cup and then to make your mark as a team," Carrick said. "Looking back doesn't really help you or achieve much, you should only do that when you're retired and have your slippers on.
"We are quite happy with the situation we are in. "It's (World Cup qualification) in our hands. If we win the games we need to we will be okay.
"We feel we are close to being a very, very good team at this level, close to challenging anyone, but it's up to us to prove it now."
