Carrick craves the best of both worlds

On Tuesday evening, Michael Carrick faced the sort of tricky delivery that England's cricketers will be hoping to avoid during their tour of India. No sooner had he come off the pitch, after scoring the goal that took David Platt's Under-21 team to next summer's European Championship finals, than the midfielder was being asked whether he fancied a trip to Japan and South Korea instead.

It was, by his own admission, an impossibly awkward question. And yet, after a pause, a cough and a brief smile, the youngster had somehow managed to answer it without offending anyone. Should he continue to play football as well as he handles the press, he would not look out of place in the senior side next June. But fitting in has never been a problem for Carrick. Those closest to him, including his current club and England managers, even go so far as to say that his middle name should be "adaptability".

Calm, controlled and with his feet firmly on the ground, it is sometimes difficult to believe he is only 20. "I've barely had time to be surprised about my progress," he admits, "but sometimes I think about what has happened to me in the last two years and I pinch myself. I don't want to sound cocky, but I have to believe that if I'm playing at the highest level then I'm good enough to be there."

Perhaps his obvious comfort on the big stage should come as no surprise when you consider the ease with which he settled in to London life. This Geordie boy was, after all, still only a teenager when he uprooted from his home town of Newcastle to move to Essex in 1996. Saturdays spent watching his beloved Magpies at the Gallagher End were swapped for a professional contract in the East End.

The change was difficult and demanding, but it was also exactly what Carrick wanted. "I was going to different clubs for trials," he says, "but I liked it here straight away. Right from my very first visit, they made me feel really welcome. With some clubs, you're only one more off the production line. But at West Ham everyone is treated well and given a fair chance to succeed."

Harry Redknapp was the man who first handed Carrick the opportunity to shine, but few have had as profound an understanding of the player as the new manager. Glenn Roeder was a coach at West Ham for three years before he took over the reins in the summer, and he still remembers the first time he set eyes on Carrick. "When you come into a new club you're obviously looking at everybody, but Michael really stood out," he recalls. "He caught my attention immediately because he was tall, calm and assured, both on and off the pitch. He has real class about him and that's not something you can teach anybody."

Now that he has a full Premiership season's experience under his belt and is one of the first names on Roeder's team-sheet (Paolo di Canio would not be amused if he lost that particular privilege), it is easy to say that Carrick made the right choice five years ago. At the time, though, the 15-year old was taking a gamble – the sort of risk that has helped him develop so rapidly. "I have no doubt that my leaving home at such a young age has helped me get into the first team quicker," he says. "When you come away early you learn to be your own person, and that has translated itself on the pitch. I think you've got to be confident if you're going to play for the first team as a kid. You've got to have that extra bit of self-belief. But that suits me because I've always felt the need to prove what I can do as an individual."

The move from Tyneside to the big city was something of a culture shock, but Carrick took it all in his ample stride. "There's a massive difference between the two places and it was difficult at first," says the Geordie, who started with the same junior team as Alan Shearer, Wallsend Boys' Club. "But there was an Australian lad with me at the time so I figured that if he could come this far then I could handle the change as well. I've no regrets. They play good football here and that suits me."

So, too, would a berth in the England squad for the World Cup finals. More creative than Frank Lampard, more versatile than Nicky Butt, more experienced than David Dunn, and stronger than the likes of Joe Cole, Gavin McCann and Sean Davis, Carrick has every chance, believes Roeder, of making Sven Goran Eriksson's final 23. "He's definitely ready for the World Cup," he says. "I think he has the best chance of any of the youngsters in the Premiership."

"It's a dream of mine," says Carrick, who remembers watching his idol, Peter Beardsley, at Italia 90. "I haven't sat down and thought about which midfield position I would be more suited to, but I would just love to be on the plane to Japan and Korea. You can never expect to be selected, and you should never make it an obsession, but I know that if I'm playing well for my club then I've got a chance."

Like last season, West Ham made a dreadful start to the present campaign. And, like last year, they have slowly but surely lifted themselves off the floor. Tomorrow night's all east London affair at Charlton should offer Roeder's team the chance to continue the mending process. For Carrick, who says he never doubted the Hammers would find their way out of trouble, the derby is a further opportunity to impress the watching England manager. "I'm close to the full squad at the moment," he says, "so I now need to make it impossible for the management to leave me behind next summer. A lot more is expected of me nowadays and I feel I have to play consistently well week in, week out to ensure that Mr Eriksson wants to make space for me."

Many have tried to label Carrick. Is he a defensive general in the Paul Ince mould; a more orthodox midfielder like Lampard; or an attacking player such as Paul Scholes or his good friend Joe Cole? The player himself is not sure what role he is best suited to but, were it to guarantee him a place in the England squad, he would happily play anywhere in the midfield.

Roeder, though, does not feel that Carrick can be pigeon-holed. "I don't think there's a player you could compare Michael to," he says. "He has a bit of everything in his game and that means he is very much his own man. He is the first Michael Carrick and soon people will be compared to him."