James Milner Has More Premier League And Champions League Assists Than Paul Scholes

The great Paul Scholes finished his career with far fewer Premier League assists than you might expect.

In fact, Liverpool and England international James Milner has recorded more, which is quite remarkable when you think about it.

Scholes will forever be regarded as one of the best midfielders in Premier League history. As we all know, he would regularly leather a pass from 35 or 40 yards with pin point accuracy.

Image: PA

It was second nature for the former Manchester United man. That being said, in 499 Premier League appearances, the 43-year-old amassed only 55 assists.

Of course, he managed to lift 11 league titles and two Champions League trophies under Sir Alex Ferguson during his 19 year spell at Old Trafford, but it's fairly surprising that he registered so little.

Here are the stats comparing Scholes to Milner when it comes to assists:

If you compare both Premier League and Champions League assists to Milner's record, you can see that the Liverpool player has 21 more than Scholes in PL games.

The 32-year-old also has also notched two assists on Scholes in European competition.

At the end of the 2011 season, Scholes decided to hang up his boots, but about six months later he was back in the United team having reversed his retirement.

He played 18 months, winning another league title, before retiring at the same time as Sir Alex Ferguson.

Speaking to BT Sport, Scholes revealed that Spurs players Gareth Bale and Mousa Dembele made him realise it was time to hang up the boots full time:

"I remember a game against Tottenham at home, it was only the third, fourth game of the season, I think we got beat at home 3-2. I played alright in possession, but I remember [Mousa] Dembele cruising past me, Gareth Bale, I know they cruise past people but I remember thinking 'I just can' do this anymore'."

Do you think Scholes was one of the best midfielder's of his generation?

Let us know. This should fuel a huge amount of debate in the comments.

Topics: Liverpool, Paul Scholes, Football News, James Milner, Football, Manchester United

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_