“YOU RARELY COME across the complete footballer, but Scholes is as close to it as you can get,” said Zinedine Zidane back in 2010. Footballing praise doesn’t come much higher.

For the second [and final] time in two seasons, Paul Scholes has announced an impending retirement. The Salford native has scored 102 goals in 466 games for Manchester United and, along with manager Alex Ferguson, will get a royal send-off at Old Trafford this afternoon.

“He’s a role model,” said Barcelona midfielder Xavi. “For me, he’s the best central midfielder I’ve seen in the last 15, 20 years. He’s spectacular, he has it all: the last pass, goals, he’s strong, he doesn’t lose the ball, vision. If he’d been Spanish, he might have been rated more highly. Players love him.”

Here are four of Scholes’ finest goals for United:

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We could not send Scholes off without paying tribute to his infamous late tackles. Here he is taking out Juan Antonio Reyes:

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And here’s the United team when he made his debut in 1994:

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