Manchester United have today confirmed that Paul Scholes has signed a year long contract extension to keep him at the club next season.
As the years have gone by, Scholes hasn’t played as regularly as he wanted and this was something that has bothered him for a while. Sir Alex Ferguson had wanted Scholes to carry on playing but the midfielder decided that he wasn’t prepared to play a bit part role so retired. Scholes stayed on at the club though, working with the youngsters, training every day, and quickly realised that playing some football was better than not playing at all, and amazingly came out of retirement for United’s victory over City in the FA Cup.
It’s safe to say that Scholes’ return turned our season around. Whilst Michael Carrick had a great season, the long term absences of Fletcher, Cleverley and Anderson meant we had very few options in midfield. Patrick Vieira called the decision to bring Scholes back “desperate” but in actual fact, he was probably our most important player. This of course is a worry, that a 37-year-old still makes or breaks us, but the decision to get Scholesy back in the team was a great one.
There was no way he was going to come out of retirement for just a few months, unless he felt like he wasn’t good enough. It comes as no surprise that he has signed another contract with United, although it’s possible, not definite, that this will be his last.
Well done Scholesy.
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