Paul Scholes faced criticism for not naming Declan Rice as one of his top five midfielders, but the Manchester United legend has now doubled down on his comments
Paul Scholes has reinforced his view that Declan Rice is “not his type of midfielder”. The player turned pundit has recently come under fire for believing Sandro Tonali is a better Arsenal player.
“I get criticized for this,” said Scholes, who was a guest on episode 100 of Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast. “Last week I was in the top five, but I didn’t include players like[Moises]Caicedo or Declan Rice because I like different types of midfielders.
“I like Vicinha from PSG. I think he’s great. He’s great. I think[Alexis]Mac Allister was great when he played for Liverpool last year, but he hasn’t had a great start this year.”
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The Manchester United legend explained: “I prefer a controlling midfielder who can do everything rather than an attacking midfielder. I like a more progressive type, not just a defensive midfielder who can just dodge and score the odd goal here and there.”
Asked about his ideal England midfield, Scholes said: “(Jude) Bellingham has to be there just for the goals, right? Not just for the goals, he’s a good player.”
“I’m trying to think about midfield players and my mind goes blank. I know we have Declan Rice, but people say, ‘You don’t have Declan Rice in your top five,’ because he’s not my type of midfield player.”
Scholes made it clear during an overlap fan debate earlier this month that he preferred Tonali over Rice. Asked about the Newcastle United midfielder, Scholes said: “I think he’s better than Rice.”
“I really like Rice, don’t get me wrong, I think he has it all. Sometimes he touches the ball a little too much and tries to look more stylish than he needs to be.”
“He can do everything, but I don’t think he does it enough. I like Tonali better, but they’re both good players.”
Regarding stick-to-football, Scholes said: “I don’t think we (England) have a controllable midfield player who can do everything right now. We don’t have Vicinha, we don’t have Toni Kroos or (Luka) Modric back then. I just don’t think we have that.”
“Jack Wilshere was probably the closest to that type not too long ago, but obviously a lot of injuries and things have stopped him. I don’t think we have that type. I don’t think we have players with the game intelligence to know when to slow down and when to change to center forward. I just don’t think that kind of intelligence exists around them.”
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