Laurent Blanc
“I tell anyone who asks me - Scholes is the best English player.”
"Scholes is the best English player. Intelligence, technique, strength... all the attributes are there. At Manchester United I saw what he could do on the training field. Phew!"
Roy Keane
“An amazingly gifted player who remained an unaffected human being.“
Marcello Lippi
“Paul Scholes would have been one of my first choices for putting together a great team - that goes to show how highly I have always rated him. He would have been one of the first players I’d have bought, given the chance.”
“An all-round midfielder who possesses quality and character in abundance.“
Thierry Henry
"He knows how to do everything, and he is the one who directs the way his team plays. On top of that, he has indestructible mental strength, and he is a genuine competitor."
"I can't understand why Scholes has never won the player of the year award. He should have won it long ago. Maybe it's because he doesn't seek the limelight like some of the other 'stars'."
Clive Tyldesley
"Some of Paul Scholes' tackles come in so late they arrive yesterday."
Pep Guardiola
"Out of everyone at Manchester United, I would pick out Scholes - he is the best midfielder of his generation, I would have loved to have played alongside him."
Jose Mourinho
“Scholes? Fantastic! Why isn’t he playing for England? It is crazy. Only in England. Scholes is a great, great player. So experienced and still, for me, one of the best in the world in midfield. Manchester United are lucky to have him.”
Micah Richards
"He's always in the right position, always seems to be at the end of the box when the ball drops in. The complete midfielder - when he's fit, he's the best. Some go missing but he's in the right place at the right time. He's my favourite player of all-time, unbelievable. If you give him a chance it's a goal, isn't it?"
Glenn Hoddle
"There isn’t a player of his mould anywhere else in the world."
Terry Venables
"He’s the best one- or two-touch passer in the country. He sees the game unlike any other player."
Alan Shearer
"If you ask footballers to pick out the player they most admire, so many of them will pick Paul Scholes. He can tackle, and his passing and shooting is of the highest level. He’s the most consistent and naturally gifted player we’ve had for a long, long time."
Eidur Gudjohnsen
"I'm more an admirer of Paul Scholes than I am of Ronaldo. Ronaldo is a fantastic player, but he has 10 other great players around him every week...Scholes is one of the most complete footballers I've ever seen. His one-touch play is phenomenal. Whenever I have played against him, I never felt I could get close to him."
Edgar Davids
""Every one of us (midfielders) is just trying to become as good as him. Everyone can learn from Paul Scholes."
"I'm not the best, Paul Scholes is."
Tony Adams
"I really rate Paul Scholes, because he hasn't got the high profile of many of the Manchester United players, he doesn't get too much attention, but he is one very good player. He is an intelligent player, he works hard and he scores some great goals. He is not flamboyant and is a quiet lad off the pitch but he is a tremendous asset to Manchester United and to England. He has already got my vote as player of the year."
Cesc Fabregas
"He is the one whose level I aspire to. He is the best player in the Premier League."
Patrick Vieira
"The player in the Premiership I admire most? Easy - Scholes."
Zinedine Zidane
"My toughest opponent? Scholes of Manchester. He is the complete midfielder."
"Scholes is undoubtedly the best midfielder of his generation."
Sam Allardyce
"There is not a better midfield player in the world."
Kevin Keegan
"What United have got that Chelsea haven't is Paul Scholes. I think he is different to anything else in English football."
Ray Wilkins
"I'm saddened because I think we as spectators, not only in this country but right throughout Europe and the rest of the World, will be missing one **** of a footballer."
Gordon Strachan
"Paul Scholes has been the best England midfield player for 30-odd years. You'd probably have to go back to Bobby Charlton to find someone who could do as much as Scholes. When the ball arrives at his feet he could tell you where every player on that pitch is at that moment. His awareness is superb."
Veron while at Chelsea being asked in an interview who's the best English player : "Paul Scholes."
Socrates was asked about what he thought of English football.
"Paul Scho-les," smiled the father of six, whose youngest is three. "Good enough to play for Brazil. I love to watch Scho-les, to see him pass, the boy with the red hair and the red shirt."
United sources:
Peter Schmeichel
"People say he is a great player, but you have to define what a great player is, For me, it is a player who has a bottom level that means his worst performance is not noticed.If he is having a bad game, a team-mate might feel Paul Scholes is not quite on his game, but a spectator wouldn't notice. Scholes, of all the players I have played with, has the highest bottom level. His reading of the game is unsurpassed.He has an eye for a pass, for what the play or the game needs at that precise moment, that I have never seen anyone else have. He controls and distributes the play and the game better than anyone I have ever seen."
"Still the best player in that United midfield."
Michael Carrick
"Paul Scholes is just fantastic. When you play alongside him, you realise what a special talent he is."
"He is a legend and he's going to be remembered for a long time. Just to play alongside him and learn from him has been an absolute pleasure. I think he is a footballer's footballer; he has been at this level for so long. As long as he is part of us we always feel we have a chance. We appreciate the way he goes about his business. I have never met a character like Scholesy; certainly not someone who is that good."
Park Ji Sung
When asked by the club’s official home page which United player he would like to see in the red shirt of the Taeguk Warriors : “It has to be Paul Scholes.”
David Beckham
Said that, among his teammates at Real Madrid, which included Zinedine Zidane, Raúl, Ronaldo, Luís Figo and Roberto Carlos, Scholes was the most admired opponent: "He's always one of those people others talk about. Even playing at Real Madrid, the players always say to me 'what's he like'? They respect him as a footballer, and to have that respect from some of those players is great."
Brian Kidd
"Paul Scholes had the best football brain I'd ever seen in a kid. Let's face it. Paul Scholes is in a class of its own."
Rio Ferdinand
"I can honestly say Paul is the best player in the England squad. For me he is the complete player."
"For me, it's Paul Scholes. He'll do ridiculous things in training like say, "You see that tree over there?" - It’ll be 40 yards away - "I'm going to hit it". And he'll do it. Everyone at the club considers him the best."
Phil Neville
"Paul, for me, is the best player in the England team. It worries teams. Speak to any other international team and they will single Paul out as England's key player. For me, he doesn't get the full credit that he deserves. He is a world-class player and deserves to be up there with the likes of Zidane and Figo."
Gary Neville
"I wouldn't swap Paul Scholes for anybody. He is quite simply the most complete footballer I have ever played with. He is the best."
"Paul Scholes is the best player I've ever played with. There's talent in every part of his game."
Steve Bruce
"He's the best player in Britain in my opinion and he has to get himself fit just before we are due to play at Old Trafford. I cannot pay Paul a bigger compliment than to say that he's the most complete footballer in the country. The best bar none."
George Best
"To be honest I think England have lost their best player. Certainly he's the most consistent and naturally gifted player we've had for a long, long time."
Sir Bobby Charlton
"I am sorry for England because they don't have any player like him. You can talk about others but there is no one else like him. He is the best technical player England has without any question. He could have had a lot more caps if he had carried on. And if I was the manager he would have ended up with more than I did – easy"
“England don’t have another player like him. He could have had a lot more caps if he had carried on. And if I was the manager he would have ended up with more than I did – easy."
"He’s always so in control and pinpoint accurate with his passing – a beautiful player to watch."
"Paul Scholes is my favourite player. He epitomises the spirit of Manchester United and everything that is good about football."
“Players like Denis Law and George Best who I enjoyed so much as team-mates and now, finally, players I have watched closely in the Ferguson era. And in so many ways Scholes is my favourite. I love his nous and conviction that he’ll find a way to win, to make the killer pass or produce a decisive volley.
“When a game reaches a vital phase, these qualities seem to come out of his every pore. He’s always on the ball. He’s always looking to bring other people into the action and if he loses possession you think he must be ill.”
Sir Alex Ferguson
"Very few players can do that, but Scholes is one of them - and I knew he was one of them. That's why, without question, I think Paul Scholes is the best player in England. He's got the best skills, the best brain. No one can match him."
"He has an awareness of what’s happening around him on the edge of the box which is better than most players. As a kid he always had a knack of arriving in the penalty area just at the right time, but he’s proving just as effective from outside the box because he’s using his experience in the right way. It doesn’t matter who I am thinking about bringing into my midfield, Paul Scholes will be included, as he would in any side in the world."
Sir Alex Ferguson gave evidence in court on behalf of one of his former trainees and listened to the prosecution barrister's list of United's top players.
"You've missed Paul Scholes - and he's my best player," Ferguson chided her.
"People say he is a great player, but you have to define what a great player is, For me, it is a player who has a bottom level that means his worst performance is not noticed.If he is having a bad game, a team-mate might feel Paul Scholes is not quite on his game, but a spectator wouldn't notice. Scholes, of all the players I have played with, has the highest bottom level. His reading of the game is unsurpassed.He has an eye for a pass, for what the play or the game needs at that precise moment, that I have never seen anyone else have. He controls and distributes the play and the game better than anyone I have ever seen" Schmeichel told BBC Sport.
Van Nistelrooy told FourFourTwo
"You have a special chemistry with certain players," explains the Dutchman, "and with me, at Manchester United, it's with Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes. Things just seem to click. What I like most about Paul, though, is that he is the epitome of a professional footballer, He comes to training, then goes home and spends his time with his family. He doesn't like all the hoo-ha outside the football, the interviews with papers and on TV. He prefers to just live his own life and he refuses to be a media object or a public figure. I have nothing but admiration for him."
Eric Harrison
“When he played in the junior sides he used to have his own personal fan club that would come just to watch him!”
, so it is not farewell after all. Also looking forward to seeing him in his testimonial in August.