Finally, the last in our series, the top 10 Manchester United players of all time as ranked by United author Wayne Barton.
For 50-41 click here, 40-31 click here, for 30-21, click here, and for 20-11 click here. After the announcement of number two, the different members of TalkOfTheDevils.co.uk will list their own top ten.
Now, without further ado…
10 Paul Scholes
718 appearances, 155 goals
11 League titles, 3 FA Cups, 2 League Cups, 2 Champions Leagues*, 1 Intercontinental Cup, 1 Club World Cup, 5 Charity Shields
Well, you can count on this list being controversial just by the length of time it took me to put this top ten in order, and by virtue of Scholes being number ten. Some might go as far as describing him as the best English player ever.
There are three Paul Scholes’ — the 94-2001 box-to-box midfielder, the 2001-2006 refined playmaker and the 2006-2013 deep-lying genius. When including him on this list my guess is that most think of the latter two incarnations and mostly the last one, the Scholes who would hang around the halfway line bossing the tempo of the play with an outrageous range of passing.
It is probably the late renaissance which edges him behind the other midfielders in the top 10 for me; the fact that in earlier years he would often be dropped for bigger games moves others above him.
But what a player. Scorer of many sensational goals — strikes at Aston Villa and at home to Barcelona come instantly to mind — and maker of many more, there is a reason why so many of his peers list Scholes as the best they played with or against.
