Paul Scholes says he gets a more of a thrill from watching his son’s team than his former club

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The former Manchester United midfielder has made a bold claim about the quality of the Premier League nowadays.

Paul Scholes has revealed his severe detachment from the league he made 499 appearances in with Manchester United in a new book, serialised by the Guardian, claiming he enjoys watching non-league and his son’s team more.

Scholes, who is often in the public eye through his statements from punditry, believes England’s top tier has fallen behind Spain, Germany and Italy in terms of the quality on show.

After becoming part owner of Salford City alongside his former United teammates Gary and Phil Neville, Nicky Butt and Ryan Giggs, the 66-capped Englishman has been able to take in games from lower down the league pyramid.

And Scholes has come to the conclusion that he gets more satisfaction from it after falling out of love with the Premier League.

“I don’t find elite football as interesting to watch any more, especially in England,” he wrote in a new book — Class of 92: Out of our League: Our Journey Back to the Heart of the Game — which is currently being serialised in The Guardian.

“I think Spain’s by far the best league. Germany has better teams. In Italy probably the strength in depth isn’t great. They talk about Italy being a bad league but I don’t think English people look at it. They say it’s boring. No chance. The Juventus team would beat any team in this league.”

“I probably do enjoy watching Salford more. I genuinely get more enjoyment from watching even my son’s team, Royter Town. It’s like a men’s team, but he’s 16. He started playing a few games for them last season. I went to watch him once, it was 5-4. It’s just entertainment.”

It is clear to see that the calibre of English football has declined in recent years.

Only two teams, Chelsea and Manchester City, have managed to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League in the last four seasons.

In the quarter-finals of the biggest club competition and the Europa League in 2015–16, Spain had six of the 16 teams, nearly half of both draws; the Premier League had just two.

Even talk of the Premier League losing its fourth Champions League spot is enough to tell how poor a state the league finds itself in compared to other top divisions in Europe.