DREAM TEAM

RICHIE WELLENS – The Doncaster midfielder chooses his favourite XI, made up from players he has played with or against in his football career.

GOALKEEPERI

Kasper Schmeichel – Leicester City He’s a fantastic shot stopper and his distribution is one of the best I’ve ever seen. He has similarities with his dad and has now got his chance in the Premier League and could probably go on to play for a bigger club. If he was a bit taller he’d probably be there already.

RIGHT BACKI

Kyle Naughton – Tottenham I played with him for a season when he was on loan at Leicester and he did well. He’s a good attacking full-back and has now forced his way into the reckoning at Tottenham. If he can get a little bit better defensively he can establish himself there and maybe get an England call-up.

CENTRE BACKI

Wes Brown – Sunderland I grew up with Wes from when we were nine and we played all the way through in the Man United youth teams. He’s one of the best one-on-one defenders ever and I wish he hadn’t got the injuries he had, because they definitely held him back.

CENTRE BACKI

Jonathan Woodgate – Middlesbrough We played in youth teams together and he would cruise through games without even really trying, yet still be the best player. If he could’ve stayed clear of injuries he would have been an unbelievable centre-back for England as well. A Rolls-Royce of a player.

LEFT BACKI

Aaron Cresswell – West Ham I played with him when I was on loan at Ipswich and at the time they were having a bit of a bad time but he really stuck out as a real talent. He’s got a hammer of a left foot and straight away I thought ‘Wow, what a player’.

RIGHTI MIDFIELDI

Darren Fletcher – Manchester United I played a lot of reserve games with him and he was probably the reason I was let go by United because he was showing rapid signs of becoming a great player. He’s had a great career. The way he has come back from his illness just shows his character.

DEFENSIVEI MIDFIELDI

John O’Shea – Sunderland He has a fantastic knowledge of the game and can read things really well. You can see why he’s captaining Sunderland because he always had those leadership qualities. He needed a strong character coming through at United and he had that in abundance.

ATTACKINGI MIDFIELDI

Joe Cole – Aston Villa In the youth teams we heard about how Joe was the next big thing coming through. I first came across him in the England youth set-up when he was playing a year above so we would test him out and he was incredible. He had two good feet and was so quick which made it so hard to tackle him.

LEFT MIDFIELDI

Steven Gerrard – Liverpool I played against him loads of times growing up and was lucky enough to play with him in England U19s. He’s probably just behind Paul Scholes as the best midfielder in the last 15 years.

STRIKERI

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – Retired In my only appearance for United he was playing and he was a beautiful finisher. He wasn’t that tall or quick but he knew where to be and once he got a chance it was almost inevitable it’d finish in the net.

STRIKERI

Michael Owen – Retired With the England youth set-ups he was always the best player. When I turned up to the squad I was a little bit in awe of him as he was in the first team at 17. He was a role model.