Paul Scholes claims Chelsea summer signing ‘shouldn’t be starting’ in PL – ‘million miles away’ | OneFootball

Paul Scholes has explained why he doesn’t think Chelsea star Jordan Henderson should be starting in the Premier League any longer.

Henderson was a left-field signing for Chelsea in the summer as new manager Xabi Alonso looked to add more experience.

The Blues targeted Henderson as an alternative to Granit Xhaka, and he made his first Premier League start in last week’s 3-0 loss to Brentford.

Henderson would not have expected to feature much for Chelsea this season, but Alonso was forced to start him alongside Valentin Barco in their last game because they were short of midfield options.

Unsurprisingly, this midfield pairing was exposed against Brentford and Scholes thinks they were the “worst team” for Henderson to play against.

“When I saw Danny Welbeck, Welbz is brilliant, and Jordan Henderson playing in the same team, I thought, ‘You couldn’t be playing against a worse team’, because Brentford have so much energy about them,” Scholes told The Good, The Bad and The Football.

“They have so much athleticism about them and I thought, ‘That is the worst thing that could happen to them [Chelsea]!’

When asked if Henderson should be a “45-minute man” for Chelsea, Scholes replied: “Maybe not even that long. Maybe a last 20-25 minutes, unless you’re playing League Cup games.

“Look, we’ve been there. At 35, 36, 37, you’re a million miles away from where you should be.

“You can use your experience to get through games, of course you can, but I think these days, especially now, it’s more of a young man’s game and you will get found out.

“You will get found out starting a game.”

“I never expected him to be starting a Premier League game…”

When reflecting on his career, Scholes has explained why Henderson is going to be “found out” this season.

“I never expected him to be starting a Premier League game,” Scholes continued.

“I don’t care how old you are, how much you look after yourself, being at that age and playing in the Premier League now especially, you’ve got to be a machine.

“You’ve got to be athletic, you don’t get away with it I’m afraid. You get found out.

“He’ll know it himself. He’ll think, ‘I shouldn’t really be starting’, I remember I did it against Manchester City when I was 36.

“The manager actually picked me and I thought, ‘I shouldn’t be playing this game, I shouldn’t be starting this game… maybe the last 15-20 minutes if it needs calming down a little bit’, and I never got the ball, I never touched the ball.

“I just knew it was too much for me, I shouldn’t really have been playing.”

Nicky Butt added: “I think Jordan will know that as well, 100 per cent he’ll know it.

“I think it was a good signing by the manager because if you look at the previous year, there were a lot of young lads who looked a bit unstable, not really a team, individuals.

“Henderson has obviously been brought in to help manage that changing room as well as obviously playing a few minutes in certain games.”