Soccer:Former England international Paul Scholes is ready to end his playing career at the end of next season and go into coaching.
Scholes, who admitted prior to the World Cup that he would have come out of international retirement to play for England if coach Fabio Capello had asked him earlier, says he has one more top flight season left in him.
The veteran midfielder quit England duty six years ago but Capello offered him a chance to return to the fold as he looked to add more experience to his World Cup squad.
Capello’s call came just days before the Italian announced his provisional 30-man squad for the tournament in South Africa but Scholes rejected the request.
United boss Alex Ferguson also talked Scholes out of retiring at the end of last season, persuading the player to sign a one-year contract extension. Now Scholes, 35, has spoken about his future plans while hosting a soccer academy in Florida.
“I am coming to the end of my playing career and I maybe have one year left,” Scholes said. “I have started doing my coaching badges back in England and hopefully one day I will be able to coach kids or coach some kind of team somewhere.”
Scholes narrowly missed out on a 10th Premier League champion’s medal when Chelsea pipped United to the title last season.
But Ferguson believes Scholes still has the quality for another season at the top and the player is under no illusions about the impact the successful Scot has had on his long career.
“He has been great,” added Scholes. “It goes without saying what a top manager he has been. The amount of players he has brought through the youth team is great and it gives hope to all the kids in the youth team that if they are good enough he will definitely use them.
“It has just been fantastic working with him and I think there is a good few years left in him yet.”