"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.
"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." Van Nistelrooy told FourFourTwo
“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
“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.” - Alan Shearer
“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." - Sir Bobby Charlton
“Paul Scholes is just fantastic. When you play alongside him, you realise what a special talent he is.” - Michael Carrick
“There isn’t a player of his mould anywhere else in the world.” - Glenn Hoddle
“When he played in the junior sides he used to have his own personal fan club that would come just to watch him!” - Eric Harrison
“I first saw him play when he was 16 – he was a scruffy little urchin! But the special thing about him was that he had the football brain to go with the talent. He had a natural instinct to make the right decision 99 per cent of the time – something you just can’t coach. Even now, when I watch academy games I still judge players coming through against Scholesy.”
Gail Millar (United fan)
“He’s the best one- or two-touch passer in the country. He sees the game unlike any other player.” - Terry Venables