'Scholesy would be one of the greatest players... how?'
Having both developed as part of the now infamous 'Class of 92', Gary Neville has revealed that, at one stage, he believed Paul Scholes would not make it as a professional footballer.
In an astonishing insight this week, Gary Neville has revealed his belief that Paul Scholes would never make it as a professional footballler.
The two players developed in the Manchester United academy alongside Neville's brother Phil, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham; all whom went on to have excellent careers in Manchester and beyond.
Yet in spite of a career laden with 25 major honours, Paul Scholes was destined to be a failure, or so according to former teammate Gary Neville.
In an interview with the 'Quickly Kevin, Will He Score?' podcast, Neville said: "'If you said to me at 12, 13, Scholesy would be one of the greatest players... how? He was so small, so slight. He didn't have great energy. He had no strength. You could knock him off the ball because he was really slight. He had asthma. He couldn't really run very far. He wasn't quick, he never beat you for pace."
Neville continued: "So you saw qualities in every single player. And then you look at Scholesey, obviously he was tidy on the ball, but you think how can he? He can't cope. Physically he can't cope with everything that's going on around him."
Now, looking back on the marvellous careers both men enjoyed, it is hard to see how Neville's assessment of a young Scholes would link in any way to the player that graced the very top of the game for 18 years.
This was not always the case though, as Neville revealed that Scholes would often be overlooked in the junior county squads during their development.
Neville added: "He sort of didn't really get into the county team. Didn't really play a lot of games. In the first year in 1992 he didn't even play in the youth team. All of a sudden the year after, I think that was the point where he stopped drinking beer, and stopped eating pies on a Friday. "