Former Manchester United midfielder Nicky Butt is convinced the club can find a replacement for the seemingly irreplaceable Paul Scholes.
Scholes was arguably the player of the match in the great escape against Southampton in United's last English Premier League game, turning the match on its head after coming on as a substitute. Sir Alex Ferguson was forced to call Scholes out of retirement, after United suffered some severe injuries last season.
The evergreen midfielder has excelled since his return and signed a one-year contract at the beginning of the summer to remain at Old Trafford until the end of the current campaign.
Questions have been raised about United's capabilities to replace Scholes in the long-term, with Tom Cleverly and Nick Powell being suggested as possible candidates. And Butt, who came up with Scholes from United's academy, is certain Ferguson will find a way to make up for Scholes' loss when the playmaker eventually decides to hang up his boots.
"I think it's always a worry when such a great player is coming to the end of his career," Butt told BBC Radio Manchester's Red Wednesday programme. "We've seen it in years gone by with Bryan Robson and when Roy (Keane) left as well.
"All these players come to an end and you do worry how we're going to replace them but the one thing about Manchester United and the manager is he does find them."
Butt went on to elaborate that the replacement would not be another Scholes, but a player that can fit into the system and carry the club forward. "He'll never find another Scholes and will never find another Keane but he will find players to come into the squad and make whatever shirt number they wear their own and be their own player in their own right," he said.
"That's what Sir Alex is excellent at doing and I'm sure he's got one or two up his sleeve for the next couple of years.
"They will be massive boots to fill, the same as with Eric Cantona and Keane and the players I keep mentioning, but somehow he's replaced them with a different kind of player who are top drawer in their own right."
United take on Wigan Athletic in Saturday's Premier League game.
