It has been a long time coming, but 18 years after making his
debut, Ryan Giggs has picked up the Professional Footballers’
Association player of the year award.
The 35-year-old Manchester United veteran, who is in line to
make his 800th first-team appearance this week if he plays against
Arsenal in a Champions League semi-finals, was handed the ultimate
accolade from his peers on Sunday.
The Welshman hopes it will be the first of three trophies he
wins in the coming weeks.
With United on course for a third straight Premier League title
and two games away from a second successive Champion League final
appearance, Giggs is on the verge of collecting more silverware for
an already heaving personal trophy cabinet.
He has won an unprecedented 10 league titles, two European Cups,
four FA Cup wins, three League Cups and a Fifa World Club Cup.
Yet the longevity of Giggs is an achievement in itself
considering he is a winger who has spent his record-breaking days
dazzling defenders in the most physically demanding league in the
world.
“That’s why if you asked any player or pundit in the world which
left-winger is in their ultimate dream team, they’d say Ryan
Giggs,” said his first Manchester United captain Bryan Robson.
“Ryan has fantastic balance, he’s quick, a great athlete and
lately his composure in the final third has improved.”
Giggs has been a constant for Sir Alex Ferguson as the Old
Trafford supremo etched himself into footballing folklore with
United, matched only in history by Liverpool’s dominance of the
late 1970s and early 80s.
“If Ryan could no longer contribute to Manchester United then
Sir Alex would be the first one to tell him,” said Giggs’ former
Wales team-mate Dean Saunders.
“United can’t afford to carry passengers and if Giggs’ standards
had dropped then Fergie would have just opened the cheque book and
replaced him with another world-class player because the United
boss has no sentiment.
“But Sir Alex hasn’t needed to because there has been no-one
better than Ryan and he knows much of his success is down to the
industry, vision and creativity of Ryan Giggs and whenever Fergie
has celebrated winning a trophy at United, Ryan has always been
with him.
“Players with Ryan’s footballing brain are rare breeds; he’s
more than a left-winger, he can play in any attacking position and
if you make the right run he’ll see the pass – that’s why he’s
still at United.”
Giggs was the first superstar of the Premier League era but he
never fell foul of the trappings of celebrity.
“He is one of the game’s great ambassadors,” former England boss
Terry Venables told BBC Sport.
“He is the prototype that every youngster should want to
copy.”
Robson, who played when Giggs made his United debut, added: “He
has an unbreakable winning mentality and attitude to want to
improve himself whenever he is faced with a challenge.
“There was once talk of him leaving United but he simply
reinvented himself and became even better. A player with that much
drive and focus is hard to find.”
Giggs’ 64-cap international career is the one barren area on an
otherwise glittering CV.
Even Arsenal’s Brazilian star Gilberto Silva admitted: “In his
prime, Ryan Giggs could have represented any country in the world –
even Brazil!
“To play regularly for a great and successful club like
Manchester United for so long, you have to be a bit special.”
If Giggs was never able to lead Wales to a major tournament, the
boy raised in Cardiff has the consolation of a club career that
seems to get better and better.