Manchester United midfielder, Michael Carrick, has requested the Football Association not to select him for England duty after suffering from a bout of depression during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The 36-year-old made his international debut in 2001 and went on to pick up 34 national caps, the last of which was a friendly against Spain in 2015, but admitted that the World-Cup had a lasting impact on his mental-health.
Carrick said: “I’d been in the squad a long time and I’ll be honest, I was finding it hard going away with England.
“I didn’t mind going away with United pre-season but going with England, it was almost depressing in a way.
“It made me really down, so I came to the point after South Africa where I thought: ‘I can’t do that again.
“People would be saying: ‘Pull yourself together and be grateful for it’ and I understood the position I was in but I just found it so hard and I couldn’t deal with it any more.
“I was probably on the verge of… yes, I was depressed at times, yes. I told the FA: ‘Look, please don’t pick me.”
Carrick will retire at the end of the season before joining the club’s coaching staff.
He has won five Premier League titles, collected a Champions League winners’ medal, along with numerous other trophies in 12 years at United.
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