England teammate brutally ends Scholes, Gerrard, Lampard debate, with Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea legends ranked

Ex-England international, Kieron Dyer, believes one of Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard was miles clear of the others, and the Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea icons were also ranked.

The Scholes vs Gerrard vs Lampard debate has raged for many a year. Each can stake a genuine claim to being the finest midfielder in the Premier League era.

Scholes has the edge from a trophies perspective, with his mark of 25 major honours greatly surpassing Lampard (14) and Gerrard (nine)

However, Gerrard gets the nod in terms of individual accolades. Looking purely at selections to the PFA Team of the Year, Gerrard (nine) leaves Lampard (three) and Scholes (two) in the dust.

Lampard, meanwhile, out-scored and out-assessed both of his rivals in the Premier League. Lampard (172 goals and 102 assists) produced superior end product to Gerrard (120 goals, 92 assists) and Scholes (107 goals, 55 assists) in both categories.

Clearly, arguments can be made for each candidate depending on your allegiance and what you favour.

However, according to Kieron Dyer – who played alongside all three for England – one player stands head and shoulders above the others.

Scholes No 1, and it’s not even close – Dyer

When initially asked to choose between Scholes and Lampard, Dyer told talkSPORT: “Paul Scholes. No disrespect to Frank Lampard, but that’s not even a conversation.

“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.

“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.”

Dyer was then asked to rank the three English legends in order.

“Scholes, Gerrard and then Lampard,” declared the trio’s former teammate.

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