Quotes on Midfielders

There are many talented midfielders but not the kind of playmaker I am.

You rarely come across the complete footballer, but Scholes is as close to it as you can get. One of my regrets is that the opportunity to play alongside him never presented itself during my career.

In the last 15 to 20 years the best central midfielder that I have seen — the most complete — is Scholes. I have spoken with Xabi Alonso about this many times. Scholes is a spectacular player who has everything. He can play the final pass, he can score, he is strong, he never gets knocked off the ball and he doesn’t give possession away. If he had been Spanish then maybe he would have been valued more.

I spend the entire 90 minutes looking for space on the pitch. I'm always between the opposition's two holding midfielders and thinking, 'The defence is here, so I get the ball and I go there to where the space is.'

The only great English midfielder in my career was Paul Scholes. He had elegance in him. Others were pretenders.