About Carrick's move in 2006, the then Spurs' manager Jol said: "This is a move that Michael wants to make...". The move represented a massive profit for Spurs who signed Carrick for £2.75M two years previously. Ben Kingsley of fanzine "Cock-a-doodle-do" said: "The general view among Tottenham fans is that this is a good deal. I don't think fans will be desperately upset." Conversely, Mark Longden of IMUSA said : "I don't understand what is going on. I have not spoken to anyone who, when £18.6M became available, would have spent it on Michael Carrick."
Ironically, the Carrick money was spent on Berbatov.
Spurs seemed happy to sell Berbatov to Man City having complained about Utd allegedly tapping him up. When Utd bid £30M, Spurs were strangely keen to facilitate the move. Wenger, amongst others, commentated how Spurs had cynically used the complaint to negotiate a higher transfer fee. Berbatov was sold for far in excess of his market value at the time.
So who's kidding who? Don't let the facts get in the way of a good rant.