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Paul Scholes Only Ever Asked to Swap Shirts With One Player For Heartwarming Reason

Home> Football> Football News> Man Utd

Published 14:28 20 Nov 2025 GMT

Paul Scholes Only Ever Asked to Swap Shirts With One Player For Heartwarming Reason

The Manchester United legend has revealed that he broke one of Sir Alex Ferguson's key rules to get the player's shirt.

Ben McCrum

Ben McCrum

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Featured Image Credit: Chris Brunskill/Getty Images

Topics: Paul Scholes, Manchester United, Football, Premier League

Ben McCrum
Ben McCrum

Ben is a sports journalist who specialises in football, Formula One and MMA. He has written for publications such as Manchester Evening News, WiganToday, Manchester World and beIN Sports. Throughout his career, he has interviewed top athletes including Gareth Southgate, Luke Littler, Tom Aspinall and Jenson Button.

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Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has only ever asked one player to swap shirts with him for a touching reason.

Having won 25 trophies including 11 Premier League titles, two League Cups, four FA Cups, and two UEFA Champions League titles, it's safe to say Scholes is one of the best players in recent years.

After playing for Manchester United for over two decades, the midfielder played alongside some of the club's greatest players including the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Eric Cantona.

Of course, Scholes also made a number of formidable opponents throughout his playing career, including players like Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho and Andrea Pirlo.

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And yet, there is just one player that Scholes approached to ask if they would swap shirts with him after a match.

Paul Scholes left United as a club legend. (Image: Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)
Paul Scholes left United as a club legend. (Image: Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)

The 51-year-old retired from professional football back in 2013 after one of the most decorated careers in English football.

Now, he works as a pundit for various broadcasters and recently launched a podcast alongside former United teammate Nicky Butt and television personality Paddy McGuinness.

And in the latest episode of this podcast, titled The Good, The Bad & The Football, Scholes revealed that Arsenal legend Thierry Henry was the only player he asked to swap shirts with.

He said: "I did it once for Arron. Arron liked Thierry Henry, so I got his and asked him to sign it to Arron."

Later, Scholes added: "I had Iniesta's as well, he asked me to swap. We would never ask anybody. Thierry Henry is the only one I ever did, but other than that I'd never ask.

"If someone came to me and asked 'Do you want to swap' I'd say of course."

Thierry is the only player that Scholes has ever asked to swap shirts. (Image: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Thierry is the only player that Scholes has ever asked to swap shirts. (Image: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Meanwhile Butt agreed with Scholes, saying that he had never asked a player to swap shirts but did manage to get one off France legend Zinedine Zidane following a match between United and Juventus.

"He offered it to me. It was a final little slap on the a** after he took the p*** all day," Butt joked.

The pair then explained to co-host McGuinness that the reason why they were so against asking opponents to swap shirts was because it infuriated Sir Alex Ferguson.

Ferguson had such a disliking for his players swapping shirts, that he went so far as to make them pay for the shirt they had given away if they decided to hand it to an opponent post-match.

  • Paul Scholes had zero doubts when naming the best atmosphere he ever played in for Man Utd
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