Things did not work out for Daniel Carrico in England, but he had plenty of success elsewhere
Reading FC fans are unlikely to recall the 2012/13 season fondly.
In their first season back in the Premier League after being promoted from the Championship the previous season, the Royals failed to get going.
The club had a tough season, winning only six of 38 league games and only once going back-to-back.
Reading were demoted from the top-flight in their inaugural season, ending 19th and 11 points behind safety with only 28 points total.
Those close to the club will believe that there were several reasons why things turned out the way they did.
One of those may be some of the signings made during that time period, and one specific example demonstrates how certain transactions did not go through for the Royals that season.
Daniel Carrico seemed like a perfect fit for Reading.
Daniel Carrico was one of the first players to join the club during the 2013 January transfer window.
The defender signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the Royals for a cost of around £600,000.
Given that he was captain of Portuguese powerhouse Sporting CP at the time, where he frequently competed for titles, and in European football, that appeared to be a very shrewd and remarkable move by the Royals.
In the end, however, the move did not go as planned.
Royals will believe they might have gotten more from the Sporting trade.
Carrico, who finalised his move to a Reading club trying to stay in the Premier League, was ultimately unable to help his new team’s case.
Throughout the remainder of the 2012/13 season, the defender made only three appearances for the Royals, one of which was in the starting lineup.
That meant there was little he could do to help the club, which was subsequently demoted from English football’s top division.
Reading’s relationship with Carrico will only worsen in the coming years.
| Daniel Carrico club career record – stats from Transfermarkt | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Club | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| Sevilla | 167 | 7 | 4 |
| Sporting CP | 153 | 5 | 2 |
| Wuhan Yangtze | 22 | 2 | 0 |
| AEL Limassol | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| SC Olhanense | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| UD Almeria | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Reading FC | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Carrico was loaned out by Reading a few months after joining the club, following their relegation to the Championship.
That move took him to Spain, where he joined La Liga team Sevilla. Carrico helped the club finish fifth in the Spanish top flight that season, and he also won the Europa League with them.
As a result, Sevilla would go on to make the defender’s loan move to the club permanent in the summer of 2014.
Carrico thereafter continued with the Spanish team for the next five years. During that time, he was a regular for them, and at the end of his tenure, he had made over 150 appearances across all competitions.
As has been the case throughout the early part of this century, Sevilla maintained a continuous presence in La Liga throughout Carrico’s tenure. He also won three more Europa League titles before leaving in 2020.
That form would eventually earn him a senior international cap for Portugal in 2015, emphasising his importance at Sevilla.
As a result, Reading fans may wonder why things didn’t go better while the midfielder was with the Royals.
His background at Sporting CP and Sevilla implies that he was more than capable of having an impact in the top division and across Europe.
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Some may ask why he was either unable or not given the opportunity to do so for the Royals while they were trying to stay in the Premier League.
If he could have kept Reading in the top-flight at the time, as his career record implies, things could have turned out differently for the club in the future.
With all of that in mind, it appears like Daniel Carrico’s time with the club may be viewed as a major “what if?” moment for Reading FC fans.
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