Jose Mourinho gave a unique answer when asked to settle the long-standing debate between Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard, and Steven Gerrard.
Mourinho is one of the best men to ask on the topic as he saw all three up close and personal during their primes in his first spell in English football.
The ‘Special One’ is currently at Turkish Super Lig side Fenerbahce where he has enjoyed a respectable start with five wins, one draw and one loss in his first seven matches, however, his side only sits fourth in the table.
The Portuguese manager made the shock move following his dismissal at Roma last season, despite guiding them to the Europa Conference League title in 2022.
A month after his sacking Mourinho appeared on Rio Ferdinand’s podcast where he was asked to settle the debate between the three English midfielders.
Unsurprisingly Mourinho favoured his own but stressed it is impossible to pick between the three icons.
“I cannot [choose], I cannot,” Mourinho explained.
“If you ask me which one I prefer, Frank because he scored 500 goals for me,” Mourinho explained.
“And the other ones, Scholes against me and Stevie G against me but they are all phenomenal players.”
Lampard helped Mourinho to two consecutive Premier League titles and even finished ahead of Steven Gerrard in the 2005 Ballon d’Or rankings in second place behind Barcelona’s Ronaldinho.
Former teammate of all three Wayne Rooney also had his say during a recent episode of The Overlap brought to you by Sky Bet.
“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,” Rooney explained.
Lampard, Gerrard, and Scholes in 2004- Getty
Similarly to Mourinho, Rooney couldn’t ignore Lampard’s goal record, and admitted the other two didn’t have the same striker’s instinct.
“From a goalscoring point of view, Lamps [Frank Lampard] 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,” he added.