22 April,2009 09:00 AM IST | | PA Sport
Reluctant hero Paul Scholes could join a select band to make 600 appearances for Manchester United in tonight's EPL clash with Portsmouth.
Scholes made his debut as a 19-year-old against Port Vale in 1994. Since then, he has made an art form of avoiding publicity. There will be no fanfare to mark his latest milestone, or even his retirement should it come, as predicted, in the summer of 2010. On Sunday at Wembley no-one even bothered to ask the former England star whether he would stop to offer his observations on the FA Cup semi-final defeat to Everton.
The waiting journalists knew what the answer would be, just as boss Sir Alex Ferguson feels potential suitors knew what response they would get should they have ever asked Scholes to join them.
"Funnily enough we have never had one enquiry for Paul Scholes," said Ferguson. "You know why? Because they all know he will never leave. Maybe he has had private situations where people have begged him to join them because that is how it happens with agents phoning up and all that nonsense. But they all know he wouldn't leave here."
Showered, dressed and out of the dressing room while most of his teammates are still digesting their latest battle, the 34-year-old prefers life at home with his three children to any of the glamour and glitz of the Premier League. "Quite possibly Scholes was the outstanding English player of his generation. At United, you can go back to the Best, Law and Charlton era," said Ferguson.
"Before that you have Duncan Edwards. You are talking a wide panorama of players. But in my time he would be in the top six or seven without a doubt. His contribution and quality have been great, even without the fantastic goals he has scored.
"When he came on against Everton on Sunday, his first touch was better than anyone else's had been in the whole previous hour. He has that wonderful velvet touch on the ball. When he gets it, it goes stone dead. It is wonderful to see that amidst all the mayhem that can happen in a football match."
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