Paul Scholes

"The truly great English midfield player of the generation. Didn’t just play the game, he thought about the game. You could see every pass, every decision, was based on his intelligence and understandi…"

"Paul Scholes is a role model. For me – and I really mean this – he's the best central midfielder I've seen in the last 15, 20 years. I've spoken to Xabi Alonso about him. He's spectacular, he has it a…"

"United always had many amazing players, but whenever we faced them we were always, always, always scared of what Paul Scholes could do. Ask anyone from that old Arsenal team, they will tell you the sa…"

"After picking Scholes as the best Premier League player ever - "I was asked to pick my best Premier League team and he was the first player I picked – I can’t compliment him any higher than that."

"“What United have got that Chelsea haven’t is Paul Scholes. I think he is different to anything else in English football."

"People say he is a great player, but you have to define what a great player is. For me, it is a player who has a bottom level that means his worst performance is not noticed. If he is having a bad gam…"

"When he passes the ball it stays passed. The ball goes exactly where he wants it to. I have always loved him for that. I played against him once or twice and he is an absolute genius. He is a role mod…"

"I don't like compliments. No. I prefer criticisms; prefer to prove them wrong"