Scholes names Real Madrid duo as the modern players most like him

Former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Scholes thinks Real Madrid duo Luka Modric and Toni Kroos are the two modern-day footballers whose style of play is closest to his own.

Scholes was a key figure for United throughout his career, helping them win multiple domestic and continental trophies, with an ability to connect play through the middle from deep as well as breaking forward with a knack for scoring spectacular goals.

Looking at midfielders in the modern game, Scholes is full of admiration for Modric and Kroos, and thinks they are his natural successors in the way they play the game.

Scholes told the BBC: “I’d like to think I played a little bit like Luka Modric. He’s different to me because he was quicker than me, he can beat a man, but I see certain traits in him, like controlling a game.

“It’s probably more towards Toni Kroos, as a passer and more of a controlling player. He doesn’t really get involved physically with people and scores the odd goal here and there. I think if I had to choose between the two I’d be more like Kroos than Modric.

“When I watch those two for Real Madrid in those great European Cup winning teams, they’re the two.”

In a stellar club career spent entirely at Old Trafford as a one-club man, Scholes won 11 Premier League titles, two Champions Leagues, the Club World Cup, the Intercontinental Cup, three FA Cups and two League Cups.

He also made 66 international appearances for England, scoring 14 goals.

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Kroos and Modric have had similarly trophy-laden careers, the former winning the 2014 World Cup with Germany while the latter helped Croatia reach the 2018 final while winning player of the tournament and later being awarded the Ballon D’Or.

Kroos has won four Champions League titles – with Bayern Munich in 2013 and three subsequently in Madrid – along with the La Liga crown in 2017, three Bundesligas, three German Cups and the FIFA Club World Cup on a remarkable five occasions.

Modric meanwhile has also won four Champions Leagues, all of them with Real, a long with a La Liga title, a Copa del Rey and four Club World Cups.