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Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has spoken about his return to the club in 2012, revealing he had to knock on the doors of Mike Phelan and Sir Alex Ferguson to request to come back.

Scholes retired from playing in 2011 after first appearing for the Red Devils in 1993, but came out of that retirement upon seeing United struggling for options during an injury crisis half a year after hanging up his boots.

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Scholes, considered one of the best central midfield players the Premier League has ever seen, revealed that he had a burning desire to return, and needed to go to assistant boss Phelan's office to talk about coming back, followed by a daunting visit to main man Ferguson.

Speaking on BT Sport, Scholes said: "I think I trained once with the first team before I came back. I even had to sort some boots out, I went down to the local sports shop the day before the game and bought a pair of cheap boots.

"I was nervous about doing it [seeing Phelan and Ferguson] because I thought 'what are they going to say, what if they say no'. Mick thought it was a great idea."

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Scholes then revealed his dread at having to see Ferguson, but it only took the Scot a matter of seconds to tell him that he would contact David Gill and sort a contract for him.

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He added of his first game back: "I’ll always remember the game I came back, we were 3-0 up when I came on, against 10 men, and it went to 3-2 and I’m thinking 'what am I doing?'

"David Platt was assistant [at opponents Manchester City]. I’m taking my gear off and he goes 'what the hell are you doing?' And I’m thinking 'I don’t know'.