Ryan Giggs is set to make his 900th appearance for the club on Thursday in Amsterdam but has today revealed that he almost copied Paul Scholes in hanging up his boots at the end of last season.

Giggs played in 38 games in total last season on the way to collecting his record 12th league title and as the season progressed, realised he wasn’t ready to stop playing yet.

“When to retire is difficult. Do you quit too early or go that one too many games and let people see you on the slide? It’s hard for me, even with my experience, not to play or be involved and last season was difficult before Christmas,” Giggs told The Telegraph. “I didn’t play many games, I had a hamstring injury and had a chat with the gaffer, saying I was frustrated, but he said I would get my games. I was thinking maybe it could be my last season, but towards the end, I didn’t want the season to stop.”

Scholes backtracked on his decision to retire and has been instrumental in some of United’s victories since. Giggs has acknowledged it’s important to make sure he gets the decision on retirement right, although reckons he will last longer if he plays centrally rather than on the wing.

“Retirement is just a decision that I have to take my time with because I feel different after each game,” he continued. “After the 3-3 game at Chelsea recently, it was a really hard game, but I felt brilliant afterwards. Yet there have been other games when I haven’t felt so good. After the game at Arsenal, I didn’t feel so great, so it’s swings and roundabouts. You can’t decide after one game. It’s just something I really need to think about and take my time over. Moving into central midfield has definitely helped me. I had a taste of what it was like on the wing against Liverpool on Saturday and it’s just completely different – it’s a different game because you are up and down all the time. When I played on the wing, I would feel absolutely knackered after games. I obviously come off tired after games now, but not as tired as I used to be when I was a winger. Not many players get to 900 games, so to play at United for that amount of time and games is something to be proud of.”




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