Manchester United legend Paul Scholes says he never considered himself a Ballon d'Or contender.

Scholes wrote in the London Evening Standard: "It is at this time of year I get asked, 'Wouldn't you like to have won the Ballon d'Or?', to which the answer is simple. I was not even the best player in the dressing room at Manchester United. It would have been pushing it to make a claim to be the best footballer in the world.

"That is how I regarded the two awards, the European Footballer of the Year and the Fifa World Player, until they merged. At United there were so many good players in the club that your first task was to get into the team. Then make sure the club was successful on the pitch. I could not tell you if I was ever on the longlist for either of them because, for the 22 years of my life as a professional footballer, my thoughts rarely strayed beyond whether the manager was going to pick me for the next game.

"Looking back over the records, the competition was fierce in my days at United. Between 1991 and 2010, nine different players at the club won 10 PFA Player of the Year awards. Gary Pallister was the PFA winner in 1992 but he was not even voted United's best player that year. Brian McClair won the club award.

"It was the same in 2009 when Ryan Giggs won the PFA award but Nemanja Vidic won the club award. It shows you just how good you had to be to finish top of the pile at United. As for me, I won the Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year in 1993 and 22 years later that is still the only one I have got."