Mourinho: Ryan Giggs The Best Ever Premier League Player
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Inter manager Jose Mourinho has taken time out to pay tribute to Ryan Giggs who he believes is the greatest player ever to grace the Premier League.
Since breaking into the Manchester United first team as a 17-year-old, Giggs has gone on to win ten Premier League titles and two Champions League titles and also holds the club’s appearance record, having surpassed Sir Bobby Charlton’s landmark last season.
“What can you say about a man who has won ten Premier League titles? The proof is in his medals," Mourinho told the Sunday Mirror.
“Yes, maybe we are talking about the greatest Premier League player of all time.
“At the very least no player has contributed so much to a single Premier League club as Ryan Giggs has to Manchester United.”
Of course Mourinho knows Giggs well after spending three years in the Premier League with Chelsea and the two also came face-to-face in the Champions League in midweek.
The Welshman has been partially reinvented as a central midfielder this season, to save his ageing legs, and Mourinho lauded this decision.
“He has found new life in central midfield this season, and I think that has been very important for United’s season,” explained the Inter boss.
“At 35, he is going to have lost some of his pace, of course - but Sir Alex has been very clever playing him in a new position and like we have seen in the past with players like Zola, Bergkamp and Zidane - quality shines through beyond age.”
Mourinho will come up against Giggs in the second leg of their Champions League tie at Old Trafford on Wednesday evening and he tipped the veteran to outshine his younger team-mates in United's bid for more silverware.
“They have their young, wonderful players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney,” said Mourinho.
“But who knows, maybe it will be Giggs who makes the difference for them in the Premier and Europe this season.”