Paul Scholes

The priceless quality of being a goal scoring midfielder, having made his England debut against South Africa in 1997, the highlight of his international career was his Wembley hat-trick in the European Championship qualifier against Poland in 1999 - Kevin Keegan's first game in charge.

He also scored a superb goal in the France '98 World Cup finals against Tunisia.

Having progressed through the Manchester United youth ranks at the same time as David Beckham and Nicky Butt, Paul has a proven big match temperament and boasts an impressive honours list.

Performances for United have shown that he prefers an orthodox central midfield role - rather than being pushed further forward - where he can make the best use of his laudable work ethic, terrific technique and ferocious shot.

Pound-for-pound, it could be argued that he was England's most effective player of his era.

Paul's contract at Manchester United was extended to June 2009 in August 2005, to June 2010 in October 2008 and to June 2011 in April 2010.

After announcing his retirement at the end of the 2010-11 season, he was re-registered by United in January 2012 until June 2012 and, subsequently, to June 2013 in May 2012.