Jermaine Jenas has named a former Manchester United midfielder as the most underrated player he played with during his 13-year career.
Manchester United have had some of the best players during the Premier League era.
The list is a long one – from Eric Cantona, Paul Scholes and Roy Keane to Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes. It also helps explain how United have won a record 13 Premier League titles, with the most recent triumph coming in 2013.
Ruben Amorim is trying to restore United to their former glories, but patience will be required following a slow start to the 2025/26 season. The United head coach will hope that Sunday’s 2-1 win over Liverpool will prove to be a turning point, though.
That would require players stepping up to the job at hand and becoming more consistent as a team. It could be argued that United haven’t been a consistent team since the midfield issues worsened following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement.
Jermaine Jenas hails Michael Carrick as the most underrated
One player who starred under Ferguson and continued to play for the club after his retirement is Michael Carrick.
Even after his retirement in 2018, Carrick joined Jose Mourinho’s coaching staff and went on to work with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before getting a short stint as interim manager.
Carrick left Old Trafford after winning five Premier League titles, the Champions League, the FA Cup, the Europa League, the Club World Cup, and the Carabao Cup three times.
However, before his United transfer in 2006, Carrick established himself at West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur.
Former England international Jermaine Jenas believes Carrick was the most underrated player he ever played with.
“I’ve always said he is the most underrated player I’ve ever played with,” Jenas told Beast Mode On Podcast, as cited by GOAL.
“He was just like a ‘get out of my space’ type player. He wanted that space in front of the back four and I wanted to make runs in behind, so I could kind of go and do what I wanted to do and he would kind of make sure when we had the ball it was being controlled.
“Because when you played with someone like Luka Modric, you then had to kind of play that deeper role. Give him the freedom because he was clearly a ridiculous talent.”
Five more underrated Man Utd players
There have been many underrated United players down the years, but here are five honourable mentions that no fan could disagree with.
Like Paul Scholes, Carrick was under-appreciated in the England national team set-up, but United benefited from that because they could then focus on their club careers.
Five more underrated United players include:
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