Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has lauded Paul Scholes as a “one-off” after admitting he struggling to find a suitable replacement for the Old Trafford legend.

Scholes called time on his illustrious career at the end of last season and although the Premier League champions have been linked with the likes of Wesley Sneijder, Samir Nasri and Luka Modric Ferguson concedes replacing Scholes is proving difficult.

The Scot believes Wayne Rooney has the ability to play in the centre-midfield but not in the same capacity as Scholes, who he suggests had that remarkable ability to control the tempo his side.

Ferguson told The Daily Mail: “Scholesy was starting to feel his legs last season and it made it difficult to play him in really big games. I think he made the right decision. We would have liked him to carry on and play 25 games next season, but he didn’t want that. He’s so proud that he wanted to play every game and he couldn’t.

Speaking about the veteran’s recent comments that suggested Wayne Rooney could fill the void vacated by him, Ferguson added: “Scholesy is being very generous there. He’s under-estimating himself and the value he had to us.

“Wayne could play centre midfield but not the way that Scholesy played it. They are too different.

“The way that Wayne would play as opposed to Scholesy is that he would be more dynamic and all over the place, using his energy to run everywhere, challenge and hit those crossfield passes that he’s terrific at.

“But Scholes was more calculated and he always had that control about him, controlling the speed and pace of a game, which is pretty difficult to do.

“He was an absolute one-off. You will never replace Scholes.”

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