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For most players, earning 66 caps for England would be the culmination of years of hard graft and the realisation of their potential.
But while Paul Scholes enjoyed a trophy-laden domestic career with Manchester United and was one of the most talented players of his generation anywhere in the world, its hard to argue that his Three Lions career reflected the nature of his talent.
Scholes was part of Englands so-called Golden Generation, that star-packed side of the mid-2000s who would so often hit a quarter-final ceiling at international tournaments.
Scholes on his England career
Scholes made his Three Lions debut in 1997 and would play at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, plus the 2000 and 2004 European Championships, only to retire from international duty at the end of that latter tournament.
With Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard occupying the central midfield berths at that time, Scholes often found himself shunted out wide as the answer to Englands left-sided problem. So was that why he hung up his international boots so early?
"No, a lot of people make that assumption, but I played on the left for United loads of times when Giggsy was injured, Scholes tells FourFourTwo.
I didnt actually mind playing there, especially for United. I scored a lot of goals from that position for United, but with England it was different, we just played a different type of football.
I just wasnt enjoying playing for England.
Scholes final game for England came after the Three Lions lost on penalties to Portugal in the Euro 2004 quarter-final, with the midfielder aged just 29.
He would go on to play another nine seasons with the Red Devils, so does he now regret calling time on his England career so early?
"A little bit, he admits. I just wish my England career could have been better really, thats my one regret.
Do I regret stopping early? Yeah, I probably do, but I wasnt liking it at the time, Id just had three young kids, and I wasnt enjoying going away and playing with England. It was different to Manchester United.
The Good, The Bad & The Football with Scholes, Butt and McGuinness is a new weekly video podcast, available on all major podcast platforms and YouTube
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