Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has explained his bold decision on Arsenal star Declan Rice and why he prefers other midfielders.
Rice has starred for Arsenal in England over the past few seasons, emerging as one of the Premier League’s best midfielders.
Although it is widely accepted that he is one of the best central midfielders currently playing in England, Scholes recently sparked controversy by naming Newcastle United standout Sandro Tonali as the Premier League’s leading midfielder.
“Alexis McAllister was really good last season. He controlled a lot of games and I think Liverpool are lacking that at the moment,” Scholes said.
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“I also love Sandro Tonali. He was great. Very good. I would probably choose Tonali at the moment.”
He added: ‘Yeah, you say Declan Rice, but I think he’s better than Rice.
“I really like Rice, don’t get me wrong, I think he has it all. Sometimes he touches the ball a little too much and tries to look more stylish than he needs to be.”
“He can do everything, but I don’t think it’s enough. I like Tonali better, but they’re both good players.”
Scholes revealed that he has an opinion about Rice because he likes “a different type of midfielder.”
Scholes said on the Stick to Football podcast: “I’m going to drop out because I was in the top five last week and I’m not going to pick a player like Caicedo or Rice because I like a different type of midfielder.”
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“Vitina at PSG was great, he’s great. I think Mac Allister was great at Liverpool last year, but I know he hasn’t had such a great start this season.”
“But I like more controllable midfielders who can do everything, not defensive midfielders who can score the odd goal. I like more progressive types.”
He added: “Rice is not my type of midfielder. Elliott Anderson was good.”
“I don’t think we have a controlling midfielder who can do everything. We don’t have Vicinha, we don’t have Toni Kroos, we don’t have Luka Modric. We don’t have that. We don’t have them.”
“Jack Wilshere was probably the closest to that type not too long ago, but a series of injuries slowed him down.
“I don’t think we have the type of players who have the game intelligence to know when to slow down and when to give momentum to the centre-forwards. I don’t think that exists.”
