(Image: overlap)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\nPaul 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.<\/p>\n
“I get criticized for this,” said Scholes, who was a guest on episode 100 of Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast. \u201cLast 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.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
read more: Declan Rice called to Arsenal’s tense meeting after Bukayo Saka meeting<\/span><\/span>read more: Paul Scholes reveals the inspiring action he took to be more attentive to his autistic son Aiden<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nThe Manchester United legend explained: \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.”<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
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<\/span>Declan Rice is not a Paul Scholes type midfielder<\/span>(Image: Eddie Keogh, Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\nScholes 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.”<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
“He can do everything, but I don’t think he does it enough. I like Tonali better, but they’re both good players.”<\/p>\n
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.”<\/p>\n
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<\/span>Vicinha is one of manager Paul Scholes’ favorite midfielders.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n“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.”<\/p>\n
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![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36156623.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615\/0_paul-scholes.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>![\"Declan](\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36156591.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_Declan-Rice-Arsenal.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>![\"Paris](\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article35062342.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_GettyImages-2210457796.jpg\")
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