The very best quotes about Paul Scholes

It's Paul Scholes' 41st birthday today. Happy birthday, Paul Scholes! As you're not doubt aware, there were two things Scholes could do better than pass the ball. One was win the Premier League, which he did 11 times. The other was inspire quotable praise from his friends, colleagues and opponents. Here are the very best of the hundreds and thousands of compliments thrown his way

He's not the quickest, he doesn't run the most, he never wins a header, he can't tackle but he's the best player.

— Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

I think an artist who abandons his art is the saddest thing in the world, sadder than death. There must have been something about Scholes' football career that profoundly revolted him.

— Robbie Savage

He is the phenomenon.

— Ronaldo

Scholes has a cosmic body that extends throughout the universe.

— Leighton Baines

Paul Scholes himself could not sink this ship.

— Sergio Busquets

My toughest opponent? Scholes of Manchester. He is the complete midfielder. Scholes is undoubtedly the greatest midfielder of his generation.

— Zinedine Zidane

If he was playing with me, I would score so many more.

— Pelé

Scholes is a great man. He is, of course, our enemy and has always been the enemy of Communism, but he is an enemy one must respect, an enemy one likes to have.

— John Terry

There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is Paul Scholes.

— Marcelo Bielsa

Scholesy is free at the instant he wants to be.

— Nicky Butt

I learned: the first lesson of my life: nobody can face the world with his eyes open all the time. Except Paul Scholes.

— Raimond van der Gouw

The only great English midfielder in my career was Paul Scholes. He has elegance in him. Others were pretenders.

— Andrea Pirlo

It makes no difference what men think of Scholes. Scholes endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. Scholes was always here. Before man was, Scholes waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way.

— David Moyes

The less a footballer discusses the game — and himself — the better. The master chef slaughters no chickens in the dining room; the doctor writes prescriptions in Latin; the magician hides his hinges, mirrors, and trapdoors with the utmost care.

— Paul Scholes