Former England midfielder Paul Scholes picks Newcastle United star as best midfielder in Premier League right now
On a recent episode of The Overlap, former Manchester United superstar Paul Scholes was asked who he thinks is the best midfielder in the Premier League right now.
If anyone is qualified to make that decision, it's Paul Scholes. Widely regarded as one of the best midfielders England has ever produced, the man knows what he's talking about when it comes to what it takes to dominate the centre of the park.
We're sure Scholes' choice is going to rattle a few fans from those 'big six teams', especially Chelsea, as it's their midfielder Moises Caicedo who takes a lot of flak from Scholes on his way to revealing his decision.
Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister gets an honourable mention, but it's Newcastle United's Sandro Tonali who ultimately took the honour.
Sandro Tonali is Paul Scholes' pick for best midfielder in the Premier League
When asked who the best midfielder in the league is, Scholes declared that it was a 'tough' question before laying into Caicedo.
“I still don’t class Moises Caicedo as an all-round midfield player. I know he scored a great goal and was brilliant the other day.
“I got some stick last year having a go at him and I almost thought about taking that back because he was brilliant in the Club World Cup.
“I just prefer the controlling type of midfield players who play with a bit more style and can score goals a bit more often than Caicedo. It was a brilliant goal but you wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t do that again for another 18 months.
“He’s one of the best at what he does which is breaking up the play, he’s brilliant at that. But I prefer the other types.
“Alexis MacAllister was absolutely brilliant last season, he controlled a lot of games and I think Liverpool are missing that at the moment.
“I love Sandro Tonali as well. He’s been brilliant. Very good. I would probably choose Tonali at this point.”
Paul Scholes says Sandro Tonali is better than Declan Rice
Scholes was then asked if that meant he thought that Tonali was the best midfielder in the League, and he doubled down and explained why he wasn't Declan Rice, like the fan asking the question was clearly expecting him to say.
“Yes, you’re going to say Declan Rice but I think he’s better than Rice.
“I really like Rice, don’t get me wrong, I think he’s got everything. Sometimes he takes a few too many touches of the ball and tries to look a bit more stylish than necessary.
“He can do everything but I just don’t think he does it enough. I prefer Tonali but they’re both good players.”
It's great to see Tonali finally getting the credit he deserves as we feel that sometimes he's so damn good that he makes everything look easy and therefore isn't necessarily recognised as being as good as he is, if that makes sense.
