According to the Mirror, Manchester United legend has showed his humble character by telling the BBC’s 606 Savage Social Podcast that Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard were better than him.
The Red Devils midfield general, free-scoring Chelsea middle man and all-around Liverpool hero were pitted against each other for most of their careers – with debates still going on to this day.
Scholes added that Lampard and Gerrard were ‘amazing players’, but reiterated that they were ‘very different’ to each other.
At club level, Scholes was the most successful – winning a plethora of major honours during Sir Alex Ferguson’s sensational almost three-decade run with United.
For England, Scholes actually drew the short straw, the superb passer was often fielded out of position on the left-wing to accommodate Gerrard and Lampard in the Three Lions’ teams.
This ultimately led to Scholes cutting his international career short, winning 66 caps, whereas Lampard and Gerrard finishing with 104 and 114 respectively.
Here’s Scholes’ response when questioned on who was the better of the three midfield maestros:
“Stevie G and Frank, of course, I’m sick to death of hearing about this to be honest. It doesn’t really matter. People can have their own opinions.”
“Them two were amazing, amazing players. But very different players.”
Scholes also went into detail on his so-called rivals’ roles in their respective teams:
“Frank played the position well,”
“He was in a team where he was allowed to do what he wanted. He had the license to go with [Claude] Makelele there. Probably the best goal scoring midfielder that there will ever be.”
“Steven could do absolutely everything on a football pitch. He was quick, he was strong, he was physical, he could score goals and he could make goals.”
“Defence probably wasn’t one of his strengths but I don’t think it was any of our strengths.”
Scholes’ comments show his pure class when it comes to his former international teammates, many would argue – especially followers of United, that the star has sold himself short with his comments.
The English media and fans should learn from the mistakes made in regards to what was seen as the nation’s ‘Golden Generation’, we shouldn’t ever pit our best players against each other like we did then.
Each will arguably go down as some of the best in their own respective areas, as Scholes said Lampard is perhaps the ‘best goal scoring midfielder that there ever will be’.
It’s fair to assume Gerrard was the most complete of the trio given his perfect blend of physical and technical attributes.
Scholes on the other hand should go down as one of England’s bests passers of the ball ever, the star’s style also made one of the best Premier League sides ever tick and function smoothly.