Will Manchester United find an alternative to Paul Scholes?

When pundits and fellow footballers like Zinadine Zidane, considered Paul Scholes as the best midfielder of his generation, they knew what they were talking about. Scholes personifies everything a complete midfielder should possess like ball distribution, retention and bringing his team mates into attack. Ever since his retirement in the summer of 2011, United found it very difficult to replace a player like Scholes. Lot of high profile names were linked with United but none materialised. United had to settle with the already present midfield players who showed a lot of promise in the early part of the campaign. But various injuries decimated the strength of the squad and United were bereft of options at the centre of the park. In January, Scholes came out of retirement to shore up the midfield. It gave a major boost for United and Man Utd’s premier league form improved to great effect. United won eight games and drew one. That draw against Chelsea was more of a point gained rather than two dropped.

After Scholes’ return to the lineup, United were able to control the midfield even better than they did before his arrival. Carrick seemed more comfortable to be alongside the returning midfield maestro. Scholes had the uncanny ability of holding the ball and creating spaces for other players to come in. The way he distributes the ball to the wingers was second to none. His long raking diagonals were splendid and a feast for the eye. As Sir Bobby Charlton rightly said: “He’s always so in control and pinpoint accurate with his passing – a beautiful player to watch”. No wonder United excelled in wingplay after his second-coming. Without Scholes, United this season have not displayed any sort of creativity. The best example was yesterday’s match against Wigan where United were clueless for most of the game. The usual strong wingplay was absent as both Valencia and Young did not have a proper distributor of the ball from the centre. Valencia was forced to come to the centre to take up the ball and it pretty much summed up United’s performance.

He brings a calming presence to the game and other players feel comfortable with him on the pitch. But how long can this go on? Such dependency on a 37 year old highlights the lack of drive in the central midfield for United. United need a player of Scholes’ pedigree to control the games. But the question is from where can you get such a player? His second retirement is not far away. May be this season or the summer of next season. When that day eventually comes for the midfield lynchpin to hang up his boots, United should make sure that it is not too late to find or groom a player who is capable of replicating Scholes’ quality. But to be honest, the only replacement for Scholes is Scholes himself.

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