The 17-year-old full-back has been in the Club’s Academy since he was 11 and is now a key part of Ben Wilkinson’s plans for a fifth successive U18 Premier League title.
Born in Manchester, Carrington began his footballing education on park pitches in the south of the city before attracting the Club’s attention.
Without his dad to take him to matches and training, the defender knows he wouldn’t have had the shot at making it in professional football.
As part of our Black History Month celebrations, we asked him about his role model.
“My dad. He’s helped me a lot, taking me to and from training,” he said.
“It took a while but he was always there. I was really young playing grassroots football and he took me everywhere I needed to go.
“I particularly remember one day driving about an hour to a game and scoring a hat-trick. The drive back was so happy and a great memory for us.”
An attacking full-back, Carrington says his inspiration from a footballing perspective is City’s own Kyle Walker, who he describes as ‘one of the best in the world’.
While no player in our Academy can be under any illusions how difficult it will to be reach the first team, Carrington is already proud of how far he has come in his fledgling City career.
He said: “My first memory is when I went to play football with my friend who took me to Cheadle Park when I was like five or six. That was my first club. I played there for a few years before City were interested.
“I still don’t quite believe everything that has happened since then.
“I didn’t really expect it to happen like it has because I was just playing grassroots football with my friends. I didn’t expect any of this to be honest.”
It’s a highly competitive environment at the City Football Academy.
Players must work together but also be fully aware they may be battling for places as they rise through the ranks and eventually vie for Pep Guardiola’s attention at senior level.
However, Carrington says the Club do everything they can to help players succeed.
Having been associated with City through his teenage years, he is well aware of the development he has made both on and off the pitch.
“As soon as I joined all the staff and players were really welcoming. That has remained the same throughout my time here,” he stated.
“They want to help you be the best you can be. That helps so much so that I feel comfortable and can focus on playing at my best.
“Being at City, my social skills have probably improved the most. I am still shy but that’s got better since when I first started. It’s important to have confidence.
“On the pitch, I know my technical ability is always getting better because of my work with the coaches here. I’ve been working hard on it and feel like I’m seeing big changes in that as I grow.”
