Fully committed

Wednesday marked the return to the England set-up for Michael Carrick after he missed Euro 2012.

Missing the finals could have easily brought an end to his international career but Roy Hodgson was understanding of the Man United mans thoughts and recalled him for the Italy friendly, starting him.

Carrick insists that he is 'fully committed' to England, and always has been, and the previous developments did not go down as they were portrayed with this being talked about by the two of them and 'a line under that' now being the case.

Had it been a case of Carrick thinking he should have played or he did not want to be involved there is no way he should have come back, but evidently this was not the case and he never wanted that to be the case.

His return was marked with him captaining The Three Lions for the final 20-minutes, an honour that he will treasure: 'there is a new regime, a new manager, and things are looking great and I'd like to be part of the World Cup qualification campaign.

'I'm not saying I'm only here to play because that is not the case. But I was happy to play against Italy and am looking forward to the future.

'It was very special for me to be captain of England. It is the first time I've done that. It was special to me to wear the jersey after such a long time but having the armband made it really special.'

At the end of the day it would appear that having the 30-year-old involved in the England set-up is mutually beneficial for all.

So, maybe we can finally see him get more involvement within the set-up and his best can yet be seen in an England shirt?

Vital England on:

Vital England on:

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