Paul Scholes was born in Salford, Manchester on the 16th November 1974 (now aged 35). He plays in a midfield position for Manchester United and also has played for England but is now retired, most people would think this is unfortunate. He has spent his entire career with Manchester United, and he has been described by Zinedine Zidane as one of the greatest midfielders of this generation.
Scholes was spotted by a scout in his school at the age of 14 and then made his debut in 1994 with 17 league appearances that season. He has played a key role with Manchester United by winning nine Premier League medals. He also had England Caps from 1997 to 2004, which he was involved in two world cups with his country. Scholes has now made over 600 appearances for Manchester United, with 150 goals, 100 bookings and 7 sending offs.
Scholes turned professional in July 1993 along side future team mates David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Gary and Phil Neville and also the likes of Nicky Butt. He then made his breakthrough to the senior team in the 1994-95 season. His debut was in a game in which he scored twice, a 2-1 victory over Port Vale in the League Cup. That same season he came on as a substitute in the 1995 FA Cup Final but Manchester United lost 1-0 against Everton.
The next season turned out to be a good year for Scholes having won his first Premier League medal and scoring fourteen goals in all the competitions that year. In 1998-99 season Scholes was a key player for that season as Manchester United picked up the treble, winning the Premier League Title, FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. Another good season was 2002-03 in which Scholes scored twenty goals in all competitions but this dipped to fourteen the year after.
In 2005-06 campaign there were fears that he could end his career with blurred vision, it is still uncertain what the cause was and whether he still has this problem. He came back to play in the final game of that season with no problem. In October 2006 Scholes played his five hundredth game for Manchester United.
He was short listed to become in the English Football Hall of Fame in 2007 but this finally went to Dennis Bergkemp, the next year this was awarded to him. Unfortunately the 2007-2008 season see him suffer a damaged knee ligament which made him out of action until February. That same year he made his hundredth Champions League appearance, a goal for Scholes in the semi and then Manchester United went to win in the final.
The 600th appearance came in April 2009 with a win for Manchester United against Portsmouth. There were some important goals for Scholes and his team in the 2009-10 season. He scored a goal against Besiktas in the Champions League, two goals against CSKA Moscow in that same competition, a goal came in the league cup against rivals Manchester City and also another goal in the big Champion League Competition against the big giants of Milan. Manchester United won this 3-2. This year he announced he may retire after this season, but the contributions and performances he has made so far may well make him continue beyond 2010-11.
