Scholes names Tonali best midfielder in the Premier League ahead of Rice and Caicedo

Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has named Newcastle star Sandro Tonali as the best midfielder in the Premier League , ahead of Arsenal’s Declan Rice and Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo.

Tonali has been superb since joining Newcastle from AC Milan in 2023 and Scholes believes his all-around play makes him better than Rice and Caicedo.Speaking The Overlap on the best midfielder in the league, he said: “I still don’t class Moises Caicedo as an all-round midfield player. I know he scored a great goal and was brilliant the other day.“I got some stick last year, having a go at him, and I almost thought about taking that back because he was brilliant in the Club World Cup.“I just prefer the controlling type of midfield players who play with a bit more style and can score goals a bit more often than Caicedo. It was a brilliant goal, but you wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t do that again for another 18 months.“He’s one of the best at what he does, which is breaking up the play; he’s brilliant at that. But I prefer the other types.“Alexis MacAllister was absolutely brilliant last season. He controlled a lot of games, and I think Liverpool are missing that at the moment.“I love Sandro Tonali as well. He’s been brilliant. Very good. I would probably choose Tonali at this point.“Yes, you’re going to say Declan Rice , but I think he’s better than Rice.“I really like Rice, don’t get me wrong, I think he’s got everything. Sometimes he takes a few too many touches of the ball and tries to look a bit more stylish than necessary.“He can do everything, but I just don’t think he does it enough. I prefer Tonali, but they’re both good players.”

The Newcastle midfielder has just one goal contribution this season – fewer than Caicedo (three) and Rice (three).Tonali ranks in the 64th percentile for possession won, higher than Rice (23rd) but lower than Caicedo (79th).He is in the 82nd percentile for Progressive carries, while Rice and Caicedo rank in the 92nd percentile and 37th percentile, respectively.Tonali has completed only 46 percent of his forward passes, which is lower than Rice (92 percent) and Caicedo (69 percent)Only Rice surpasses him for key passes – Tonali ranks in the 74th percentile, while the Arsenal midfielder is in the 88th, and Caicedo is in the 32nd percentile.Rice also maintains his supremacy for progressive passes, ranking in the 81st percentile, ahead of Tonali (56th) and Caicedo (77th).Undoubtedly, Tonali is one of the best midfielders in the league, but Scholes’ claim that he is better than Caicedo and Rice is statistically wrong.

Stats from datamb.football