Rare is the young footballer who aspires to be like Michael Carrick. Manchester United-supporting kids want to be Wayne Rooney or Angel Di Maria -- Nos. 1 and 2 in the top shirt sellers of United kits.
Carrick isn't even in the top 10, yet he has been key to United's recent success as someone who starts the moves rather than grabs the glory at the end.
I suggested last week to former Manchester United and England striker Andrew Cole that Rooney has been United's best player since Cristiano Ronaldo left the club in 2009:
"I'd say Carrick's been just as influential," he replied.
An ankle injury suffered in preseason ruled Carrick out at the start of the campaign, and United stuttered without the Geordie midfielder.
He is back now and has started the last three matches, which brought three straight wins for the first time in 11 months. United will fancy their chances of a fourth against Stoke at Old Trafford on Tuesday night.
Having been in charge for only 13 competitive matches since August, Louis van Gaal isn't impressed with facing nine games in the next 36 days. He has never managed in a country that has so many games over the festive period, but at least he can rely on Carrick, one of his key players, an interceptor rather than an aggressor, a distributor rather than a dynamo, a stabiliser rather than a scorer.
Though once a fan scapegoat criticised for everything from his haircut through his pallid complexion to not being Roy Keane, the former West Ham and Tottenham midfielder is now well respected by fans.
"His problem initially in a United shirt was that he had [Paul] Scholes alongside him," said Paddy Crerand, who played a similar role in United's great side of the late 1960s.
"Naturally when a player of that quality and experience is there the tendency is to give him the ball. Michael did that a lot. He wouldn't take responsibility and that kept his qualities very much in the shade."
His inhibitions have long gone, he's playing well after injury and was one of the men of the match on Saturday in an impressive 3-0 win against an admittedly poor Hull City side.
The other contenders were the three midfielders around him in a diamond formation: Juan Mata, Marouane Fellaini and substitute Ander Herrera. Van Gaal spoke of the "control" his team had exerted and it was largely responsible for United enjoying 77 percent of possession, an amount unseen this season.
United made 807 passes to Hull's 242 and had a passing accuracy of 92 percent. Carrick was to the fore, spraying passes and shielding a backline with just two recognised defenders -- Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo.
Nobody sang Carrick's name and he got on with his game, quietly and efficiently.
"He does the basics very well," says former Premier League striker James Scowcroft, a United fan who watched Saturday's game from the Stretford End at Old Trafford.
"If you were coaching kids about the way to receive the ball, then Carrick is the player to watch. The way he looks over his shoulder, his composure, the way he knows where the ball is going or how he gets the ball on the half turn, his technique is really good. He's United's best passer, he's England's best passer."
Carrick was named in Roy Hodgson's most recent squad only to withdraw with injury, the latest false start in his England career. He made his international debut as a 19-year-old in 2001 and yet has played just 31 times for his country.
Despite being a top player at a top club and someone who has won the Premier League five times as well as the European Cup, Carrick didn't even make the World Cup squad for Brazil.
He didn't go to Euro 2012 after telling the Football Association that he wasn't interested in being an unused squad member, as he was in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup.
It wasn't a retirement but a wise career choice from a family man with better things to do with his time. His then-club manager Sir Alex Ferguson had no problem with that.
"England's biggest problem is possession of the ball and England's best player at keeping possession is Carrick," adds Scowcroft. "Anyone can speed the game up with a ball launched forward, few can slow the game down. Carrick does it brilliantly, he sucks life out of opposition."
That was clear on Saturday. Indeed, when he'd got to grips with how bad his side were, Hull manager Steve Bruce put a man on Carrick for the second half and his side were a bit better. Just a bit.
"I spoke to my former teammate Billy McKinlay (now David Moyes' assistant at Real Sociedad)," said Scowcroft. "Billy worked with Martin Jol at Fulham and said: "To stop United you have to put someone on Carrick."
Carrick is 33 and has played 363 times for United since his 2006 move from Tottenham. Daley Blind, 24, is his likely successor, but Carrick's not a player whose lack of pace will affect his game as he gets older.
"He's not a player expected to press the ball," said Scowcroft. "And that's the difference between United and Chelsea. United are limited when it comes to pressing the ball. Rooney can do it, Herrera can and Di Maria can.
"Mata can't, that's why he's at United and not Chelsea. [Robin] van Persie can't, Fellaini can't -- they don't have physical attributes to do it, the explosive off the mark pace to get close to people."
Carrick is very popular among staff at Carrington. His contract expires at the end of the season and he wants to stay at Old Trafford. United tend to offer veteran players yearly deals -- as they did with Patrice Evra last summer -- but Carrick will likely want longer.
He said last year that the best players he'd ever played with were "Cristiano Ronaldo or Scholesy. If I could choose any player to have back, I'd take Scholesy. He's that good. I just wish he was 10 years younger."
There's a few now who wouldn't mind if Carrick was a decade younger either.
Yes RVP was offside but still it was great to see.