Man United legend: Jones ‘not clever enough’ for defensive role

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Paul Scholes doesn’t believe Phil Jones has a future at centre-back for club or country as the Manchester United legend claimed his former team-mate lacks the intelligence to play in the middle.

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Jones has been used in a variety of positions for both United and England during his career and started the goalless draw against the Republic of Ireland at right-back on Sunday afternoon.

Sir Alex Ferguson once tipped the former Blackburn Rovers defender to become an all-time great for the Red Devils [via SkySports], but speaking in the build-up to the game on ITV, Scholes questioned if Jones is capable of playing as a centre-half:

“I just think at centre half he is not quite clever enough to do it,” he said [via Mail Sport].

“I just think at centre back, when he is playing against clever forwards, he tends to get dragged out of position quite a easily,” Scholes added.

Jones was mainly used at the heart of United’s defence under Louis van Gaal this year and began to show signs of promise towards the end of the season, where he made 22 Barclays Premier League appearances.

It is not the first time in recent weeks that Scholes has questioned the abilities of an England international after raising concerns over Tottenham striker Harry Kane’s lack of pace, amid speculation that he is a transfer target for United [via Independent Sport].

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