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Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has hailed Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe as the best current striker and Lionel Messi as the greatest striker of all time. The Englishman recently spoke to The Overlap, where he named the best current player and the best player ever in five different positions.
Mbappe has operated in the No. 9 role for Los Blancos since arriving as a free agent last summer. The French superstar, interestingly, prefers to play in the left-forward role. The 26-year-old has registered 33 goals and five assists from 49 games across competitions for the LaLiga giants.
When asked to name the best striker of all time, Scholes had no qualms about picking Lionel Messi.
"We've got Messi as a striker, have we? False 9 have we? Yeah, I'm gonna say Messi," said Scholes.
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The former England international named Alisson the best current goalkeeper and Peter Schmeichel the greatest goalkeeper of all time. The Englishman opted for Virgil van Dijk as the best defender in the world right now, while choosing former teammate Rio Ferdinand as the best defender ever.
Kevin De Bruyne was named the best current midfielder, and Zinedine Zidane the best of all time in the position. When asked to choose the best winger at the moment, Scholes chose Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior. The Englishman then selected former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo as the best winger of all time.
Real Madrid tried to sign Lionel Messi as a teenager: Reports
Real Madrid reportedly tried to sign Lionel Messi during his formative years, according to his former agent Horacio Gaggioli. The Argentine superstar rose through the ranks at Camp Nou and was earning rave reviews with the youth team when he caught the eye of Los Blancos.
Speaking last year, as cited by Yahoo Sports, Gaggioli added that La Pulga had no desire to leave Camp Nou.
“Real Madrid were interested in him when he was young, he was 16 or 17 years old, but Leo never wanted to leave Barcelona,” said Gaggioli.
Lionel Messi went on to transform Barcelona's fortunes, becoming the club's greatest ever son. The Argentine took the Catalans to the pinnacle of success, and is also their record goalscorer.
Interestingly, La Pulga has faced Real Madrid 47 times in his career with Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), winning 20 and losing 16. He has scored 26 goals against Los Blancos and set up 14 more.
