Ex-England man issues Scholes, Lampard and Gerrard debate verdict with 'talent' claim

Former England international Kieron Dyer has weighed in on the Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard debate. The debate is a long-running one, still going on after all three players have retired and moved on to either managerial or pundit roles.

All three were part of England's 'Golden Generation', which ultimately failed to live up to expectations, but there were all successful at club level during their impressive careers. Scholes won title after title with Manchester United, while Frank Lampard did the same with Chelsea, settling assist records on the way, and while Gerrard famously missed out on Premier League title success, he won a Champions League and many domestic cups.

As for which one of the three was the best, that question is a subjective one, but it doesn't stop people from attempting to answer it. One player who does know all three pretty well after racking up 33 caps with England is former Newcastle United man Dyer, and he told TalkSport when asked who comes out on top: "Paul Scholes. No disrespect to Frank Lampard, but that’s not even a conversation."

He added: "Frank has got the most assists in the Premier League and has scored more goals than him, but my answer to that is that Chelsea played a completely different formation to Manchester United and Liverpool at the time, if you throw Steven Gerrard into the mix.

“I love Frank Lampard because out of the three including Steven Gerrard, he had nowhere near the same amount of natural ability and talent as them, so for him to have the career that he had. Every single time I saw him in training he was doing extras – shooting and he was being labelled as 'fat' by West Ham fans and the amount of fast-feet stuff that he’d do – he was completely dedicated."

Dyer continued: "Everything that he’s got – it’s a bit like Messi and Ronaldo when they say Messi has god-given talent and Ronaldo’s all hard work – that’s how I see Scholes and Gerrard and Lampard.” Asked to rank the three, he concluded: “Scholes, Gerrard and then Lampard.”