Wayne Rooney settles Frank Lampard vs Steven Gerrard vs Paul Scholes debate as Man Utd legend reveals best 'all-round' midfielder

Answering 53 questions from Gary Neville about his life and career on The Overlap, Rooney revealed his admiration for Gerrard's ability to do just about anything on a football pitch. It is that which set him apart from Lampard or Scholes, who were "world class" in other ways.

Football fans are still arguing about who was England's best midfielder of the fabled 2000s golden generation. Rooney, having been part of that team and played with all three regularly for England, as well as with or against them at club level, is better placed that most to settle the debate.

Rooney said: "Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard are all different. As an all-rounder, Stevie is the best; he can defend, pass the ball, run, tackle, score goals, set pieces. As an all-rounder he's the best from that point of view.

"From a goalscoring point of view, Lamps was the best. The goals he scored were incredible from midfield and technically he wasn't at Stevie or Scholesy's level but there was no-one better at scoring goals from midfield.

"Scholesy, the way he adapted [made him amazing]. He was a striker when he was younger so to go to a ten, then midfield then a deeper midfielder dictating the game, I don't think either of the other two could dictate a game the way he could.

"All were world-class players. Stevie could come to Manchester United and be a top player and do what Scholes could do. But I don't think Scholes could do what Stevie did at Liverpool."

Following his ill-fated spell at Birmingham City, Rooney spent just shy of five months out of football before being appointed new Plymouth Argyle boss over the weekend. Plymouth will begin the EFL Championship in 2024-25 after narrowly avoiding relegation, at Birmingham's expense, on the final day of 2023-24.