Former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Scholes has said that there is “something about” two elite clubs that can lead to players becoming “obsessed.”
Paul Scholes’ entire playing career at club level was spent at Old Trafford after he rose through the Manchester United youth academy and broke into the first team.
The 49-year-old former United star emerged on the scene in the 1990s under ex-Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson as one of the famed ‘Class of ‘92’ members.
Scholes is widely regarded as one of the best Premier League midfielders of all time, not to mention one of the best midfielders in the history of the sport.
The ex-England international lifted 11 Premier League titles, two Champions League trophies, three FA Cups and two League Cups under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Scholes made a whopping 714 appearances for the Red Devils – across two spells at United – and he netted 153 times and registered 82 assists for the club.
The former Three Lions star initially retired in 2011 before he walked back on his retirement in 2012 and re-signed for the Premier League club.
Scholes bowed out of Old Trafford as a player for the final time in 2013 after Ferguson’s retirement and United’s last Premier League title win.
Scholes makes obsession claim
Speaking on the Football’s Greatest podcast, Paul Scholes shared his two cents on the perception that Real Madrid and Barcelona have in the eyes of some players.
The Manchester United legend suggested that the two aforementioned La Liga clubs have a different appeal than the likes of Juventus and Bayern Munich.
“If you become a great player here, the only place you can go is Madrid or Barcelona,” he told fellow United legend Nicky Butt.
“I would call it a sideways move. If you’re talking about going to Juventus or Bayern Munich, I would say no.
“But there is something about going to Barcelona or Real Madrid. Some players become obsessed by that.”
Scholes received interest from one team
Despite his remarkable playing career at Old Trafford, United legend Scholes admitted that he was made aware of transfer interest from one European club.
Scholes revealed that Inter Milan were interested in signing him at one point, but the former England star felt he was “at the biggest club in the world anyway.”
“I was never ever made aware of any team coming in for me,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live in 2020, as per BBC Sport.
“I did have one phone call off an agent, Bryan Robson’s old agent, he rang me while we were away at Euro 2000 to ask me if I would be interested in going to Inter Milan but that’s the only phone call I ever had. I never heard anything after that and the manager never said anything to me.
“I was playing at my boyhood club, I was a Manchester lad, we were winning trophies all the time.
“If the manager said to me that he didn’t want me, I would definitely have gone if there was a big club abroad who wanted me but there was never any need to ever think about Barcelona, Real Madrid or AC Milan because I was at the biggest club in the world anyway.”
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