James Ward-Prowse makes baffling Paul Scholes claim after facing Man Utd legend for 30 minutes
James Ward-Prowse has been playing in the Premier League for well over a decade but his toughest opponent is a player he only came up against on one occasion - and for just half an hour
James Ward-Prowse has labelled Paul Scholes as his toughest opponent - despite only coming up against the Manchester United icon for 30 minutes.
The Nottingham Forest new boy, who made the move from West Ham, has been playing in the Premier League for well over a decade. He's come up against some of the modern day greats - the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, N'Golo Kante and David Silva.
Yet Scholes has got the nod during a Q&A which saw Ward-Prowse quizzed on the toughest player he played against - which meant he had to go back to 2012. At that point the midfielder was just 17 at Southampton as he begun his journey into the first-team.
He came up against Scholes and Manchester United in September 2012 - a game that the Red Devils won with two late Robin van Persie goals. Ward-Prowse was 20 years Scholes' junior when the veteran came off the bench on the hour mark - but clearly left a mark on him.
READ MORE: Cristiano Ronaldo breaks down in tears after scoring 900th goal of legendary careerREAD MORE: Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville clash again over Liverpool and Man Utd managersScholes had come out of retirement to return and play under Sir Alex Ferguson, but was able to adapt his game and continue being an influential figure. Several of his opponents throughout his career have previously lauded the United academy graduate - Zinedine Zidane among them.
Wayne Rooney played alongside Scholes and several of his England compatriots - whom he's often compared to. Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard were among his international competition - and eventually got the nod over the Manchester star.
Rooney concedes that all three excelled in their own way, citing Scholes' ability to prolong his career as he tweaked his position and style, but confessed that Gerrard, who Ward-Prowse also came up against on numerous occasions, was the best of the three.
He said recently: “Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard are all different. As an all-rounder, Stevie is the best; he can defend, pass the ball, run, tackle, score goals, set pieces. As an all-rounder, he’s the best from that point of view.
“From a goalscoring point of view, Lamps [Frank Lampard] was the best. The goals he scored were incredible from midfield and technically he wasn’t at Stevie or Scholesy’s level but there was no-one better at scoring goals from midfield.
“Scholesy, the way he adapted [made him amazing]. He was a striker when he was younger so to go to a ten, then midfield then a deeper midfielder dictating the game, I don’t think either of the other two [Gerrard or Lampard] could dictate a game the way he could. All were world-class players.”
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