Paul Scholes officially announced his retirement on the 31st May 2011 with immediate effect to take up a coaching role at Manchester United next season.
Scholes will forever be regarded by the Old Trafford faithful as a legend and he is arguably one of the greatest players the Premier League has seen. Thierry Henry has previously said, "Without any doubt the best player in the Premiership has to be Scholes... He knows how to do everything."
In February of this year, one of the current best players in the world, Barcelona midfielder Xavi rated Scholes as the best player in his position in the past two decades. stating "A role model. For me, and I really mean this, he's the best central midfielder I've seen in the last 15, 20 years. He's spectacular, he has it all, the last pass, goals, he's strong, he doesn't lose the ball, vision. If he'd been Spanish he might have been rated more highly. Players love him."
Schole's passing, movement, technique and ability to strike a ball cleanly was second to none but he unfortunately gained a lot of criticism for his tackling. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was quoted as saying that Scholes had a darker side to him and that he was not a fair player - this I feel is an unfair comment. I don't think he has a dark side to him at all, he is a family man who stayed out of the limelight and gave it 110% on the pitch. Yes he made some bad tackles during his career but the majority of them were mis-timed - remember that Scholes had paid the price for his tackling previously when he missed the 1999 European Champions League final because of suspension. It was just part of his game.
I'm sure that Paul Scholes will be looked upon in years time as a role model to aspiring professionals not only for his playing skills but also for the way he conducted himself off of the pitch. As previously stated he is a family man and is famously quoted as saying that his ideal day is "Train in the morning, pick up my children from school, play with them, have tea, put them to bed and then watch a bit of TV." A lot of the current crop of Premier League stars could take a leaf out of Scholes' book on this front.
It all depends on Mancini. City already have a solid base within their squad with which to build upon, and with the right mentality amongst the squad, and with a slight alteration of the tactics, there's no reason as to why City can't be at the top of the table next season. Firstly, and most importantly, Mancini needs to assess his middle 3. A team with the quality that is apparent in City's defensive unit does not require an adverse balance of defence over attack in midfield. Kompany has been immense this campaign, Joe Hart has shown that he has a very bright future in the game, and up until recently, Kolo Toure had provided a high level of stability. Therefore there is no reason to have both Gareth Barry and Nigel de Jong sitting in front of the backline. And as already stated, Yaya Toure is naturally a more defensive minded player, despite showing that he is adept at playing further forward. What is missing is an Iniesta style player, someone who can sit in the middle of the park in the advance position, who can then look to support the attack by sliding through perfectly weighted balls, as well as showing the intelligence and flair in order to arrive in and around the box to support Tevez. David Silva has shown that he is capable of playing in this position, however due to the lack of width available to City at this moment in time, Silva has been deployed higher up the pitch. With the money available to City, there are a number of candidates who could be bought into the squad to fill the void.
