Man Utd legend Paul Scholes has surprisingly named former Fulham midfielder Papa Bouba Diop as one of this toughest midfield opponents.
Diop played for Fulham, Portsmouth, West Ham and Birmingham City in England and he only won a handful of honours in his career, including the FA Cup and Swiss Super League.
Despite that, Scholes found him “awkward” to play against for Man Utd and has compared the former Senegal international to former Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira
“When I played central midfield I like to go into games thinking ‘I just want to have all the time in the world here, just nobody around me, just find a little bit of space and pass the ball around’,” Scholes told Savage Social.
“Then you play against people like you (Robbie Savage). An absolute nuisance, trying to close you down dead quick. I don’t want that, I just want it nice and relaxed.9
“The way I played I didn’t really have to beat people or be stronger, quicker than the other person. I suppose Patrick Vieira, you play against him he is so long, he is so big. You think you’ve got the ball, and the next minute he nicks it over your head. He was a clever payer as well.
“There’s one more that people won’t think of. We used to play against Portsmouth. Do you remember Papa Bouba Diop? Big, massive. They used to call him The Wardrobe! You get involved physically with him and you’re wasting your time. I always found him awkward to play against. He wasn’t a Vieira, of course, he wasn’t, but he still had talent.”