Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes disagreed with Gary Neville when naming who he thinks is currently the best midfielder in the Premier League.
Scholes, who won 11 Premier League titles with United, knows exactly what it takes to be a top midfield player, having made 718 appearances for the Red Devils as well as winning 66 caps for England.
The one-club man was often compared to Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard during his illustrious career and has even received praise from some of the game’s players, such as Zinedine Zidane.
But what does he make of the current crop of Premier League midfielders?
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Well, Scholes was asked for his opinion on who he thinks are the best current Premier League midfielders and gave a different answer to Neville.
Neville snubbed world-class midfielders such as Rodri and Declan Rice when revealing that he thinks Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo is the current best Premier League midfielder.
Speaking on Sky Sports after Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Liverpool last weekend, Neville described the Ecuadorian as “the best player on the pitch”.
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"He’s everything and a brilliant midfielder,” Neville said.
“He was the best player on the pitch by a mile, and if Liverpool had him, they would have won; he was that good.”
He added: "You think of [Ryan] Gravenberch last season and Declan Rice, Rodri obviously, but right now I think we can say he’s the best midfielder in the Premier League."
But Scholes, who was speaking on The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet, disagreed with his former United teammate and claimed that he doesn’t class Caicedo as an “all-round midfielder” despite his recent impressive form.
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Instead, he named Newcastle and Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali as the current best midfielder in England’s top flight.
“Alexis Mac Allister was brilliant last year,” Scholes said. “He controlled a lot of what Liverpool did, and they’re missing that this year.
“Bruno Guimaraes is brilliant, and I love Sandro Tonali at Newcastle as well. I was trying to think of a player, Tonali, especially, he can run. He’s been brilliant.
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“I’d probably choose Tonali at this point [as the best midfielder in the Premier League]. Over Declan Rice, yeah. Tonali is better than Rice.”
The 50-year-old then homed in on Rice and said he takes “too many touches of the ball” despite maintaining that he really likes the Arsenal man.
Luke Davies