Paul Scholes admits playing with Juan Sebastian Veron was a ‘disaster’

Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has revealed that he didn’t have a preferred midfield partner during his two decades at the club but admitted it was a ‘disaster’ playing alongside former record signing Juan Sebastian Veron.

Veron was considered one of the best midfielders in the world when he made the £28.1m switch from Lazio in the summer of 2001, bringing additional talent and flair to a golden United side that had already won three Premier League titles on the bounce.

But the Argentine, despite showing flashes of his best in a United shirt, never quite found his place at Old Trafford. He was then sold to Chelsea after only two years for half the money and arguably was never his old self until returning to boyhood club Estudiantes in 2007.

For all his glorious technical ability, Scholes has admitted Veron was never the right partner for him because they were both too similar and it left central midfield unbalanced.

“I played with Nicky [Butt], I played with Roy [Keane]…Michael Carrick. I loved playing with all of them. It wasn’t great playing with people who [were] attacking people, I needed someone who played that [defensive] position really well,” Scholes told Gary Neville’s The Overlap.

“Me and Veron were a disaster. I think me and Anderson did it once. Just, no, it’s not working, is it? Just two lads who don’t care about defending, [who] don’t know the [defensive] position that well.

“It worked better with a Michael or a Roy or a Nicky. They were brilliant playing that position, they knew. I didn’t know the position that well.”