Former manager backing ex-Portadown star to fulfil American dream after joining David Beckham and Lionel Messi at Inter Miami

Now, the 22-year-old who made 63 senior appearances and scored eight goals across two years at Shamrock Park, is celebrating a move to Major League Soccer side Inter Miami, owned by David Beckham and counts Lionel Messi – perhaps the greatest player of all-time – Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba amongst key members of their squad, following an impressive stint in college football.

Carmichael scored 46 goals and provided 18 assists in 75 matches for New York-based Hofstra University, which resulted in the Armagh-born striker being picked 24th at Tuesday’s 2024 MLS SuperDraft – the annual selection process where clubs take turns choosing from the best young talent the country has to offer.

The fact he’s achieving such success doesn’t come as any surprise to former boss Tipton, who handed Carmichael his Portadown debut and was in charge for every appearance thereafter.

"I brought him in very quickly – as soon as I saw him really,” he recalled. “I went to watch the U18s and U20s playing at Loughgall Country Park one morning and he was just gliding past people, so I went over and asked ‘who is that?’. They said Ryan Carmichael and I told them to send him up to us from then on.

"When you get a player like Ryan you just want him to go out and express himself. He was 17 when I took over and he had this ability to go past people. When he was in front of goal he was really calm.

"He's been playing centre forward in America, but we played him mainly off the right because at that stage we had Lee Bonis, Adam Salley and Stephen Murray as centre forwards, so to get him into the team it was easier to play him off the right.

"He could then drift inside and cut past people. He had this ability to score goals. I remember early in his career we played Linfield in the League Cup and he scored a tremendous back post header in a big game. He had those raw attributes as a manager that you can guide along.”

Alongside being a talented footballer, former Northern Ireland youth international Carmichael, who started out at Loughgall, is also extremely intelligent and accepted a maths scholarship at Hofstra, combining his studies with on-the-pitch commitments.

Tipton believes that if it wasn’t for heading across the Atlantic the young attacker would have undoubtedly attracted interest from clubs around the United Kingdom.

"We would have fully expected clubs in England and Scotland to be interested in Ryan if he didn't move to America,” he added. “We always had that belief in him and it's a massive opportunity for the boy.

"We knew his education always came first. His dad is a great guy and I had many conversations with him about doing the right thing by Ryan.

"We thought at that stage he might have moved to England or Scotland to go to university and we were always pushing the football side of things. He went down the American path and I'm really pleased for him.”

Messi’s headline June move from Paris St-Germain, which reportedly guarantees the Argentinian ace a minimum of $20million per year, has brought significant attention to the American game with 110,000 subscribers signing up for a MLS Season Pass on the day of his debut – that number was 6,473 in the 24 hours prior.

The eight-time – and reigning – Ballon d’Or winner has already helped his new club end their wait for silverware, guiding them to Leagues Cup glory this summer, and Tipton hopes his former charge can get to experience being around the icon.

"Hopefully he gets to share the dressing room with Messi, who many people will say is the best of all time,” he said. “Even if Ryan gets to share the training pitch with him it will be a tremendous experience.

"He has a long way to go before that with the way the system works, but I have full belief in his ability and hopefully he can go there and make a good fist of it.

"We had Bobby Edwards and he went over there (to join FC Cincinnati) which gave us an interest to watch. With a bit of luck we will get the same with Ryan and get to see him and Lionel Messi linking up."