The ‘new Scholes’ has a hard task ahead of him

As you well know, I’m not a fan of labelling young players ‘the new so and so’. It puts an unrealistic weight of expectation on a young players shoulders, it doesn’t allow the player to develop into their own player as they are constantly compared to the player they are meant to become and in general the player hardly ever lives up to the title.

Paul Scholes is undoubtedly a United legend and the task of replacing him is an unenviable one. Unbelievably humble for a player so good, everything about him screams class. His touch, eye for a pass, ability to execute the pass and the number of goals he scored made him an ideal player to have in the middle of the park but unfortunately set an unrealistic standard for any player named as his replacement, namely Darron Gibson.

Opinion is still out on Gibson, I have spoken with some fans who feel he is the real deal whilst others feel beyond his long range shooting he doesn’t offer much.

Sir Alex Ferguson is clearly a fan of his as his role in the first team has grown this season and today’s papers are quoting Fergie as saying,

“You saw Gibson’s performance against Bayern Munich, that was his sixth goal of the season and you cannot dismiss that. It is the kind of contribution we used to get from Paul Scholes.

He used to get me 12-14 goals from midfield all the time and we haven’t had a player like that in a while. Who is to say if Gibson had not been playing all the time where he would be in terms of goals?”

And indeed he makes a good point, had Gibson played more games who is to say he would not have scored more goals? It is foolish to write him off now at just 22, although there are exceptions to the rule, central midfielders don’t reach their peak until their mid to late 20s so he has a lot of time to develop his game.

My only concern is that he, like a whole host of other players, just won’t be able to fill the hole left when Scholes retires. It’s nothing against Gibson or his ability, the same could be said for a number of other players who may be tasked with the job, it is just the fact that the role is a monumental one and essentially if your not Paul Scholes, you won’t be able to fill the void.