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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Liam Corless

Surprise Solskjaer stat proves how highly Sir Alex Ferguson rated him at Manchester United

It will come as no surprise to you to learn Ryan Giggs is the player Sir Alex Ferguson selected most during his time at Manchester United.

Giggs made 897 appearances for United under Ferguson, nearly 200 more than his nearest challenger Paul Scholes, who played 708 times for the Reds while the Scot was in charge.

Gary Neville made the next most appearances with 597, with Rio Ferdinand, Dennis Irwin, Roy Keane and Wayne Rooney having all turned out more than 400 times.

Perhaps surprisingly, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer played more times under Ferguson than any other striker bar Rooney, clocking up 365 appearances.

David Beckham, Peter Schmeichel and John O'Shea round off the XI, which was put together by Bleacher Report and is set out in a 4-4-2 formation.

Nicky Butt (383) and Phil Neville (378) both made more appearances than Solskjaer but there is no room for them in the team due to the formation.

The same is true of Mikael Silvestre and Wes Brown, both of whom played more times under Ferguson than Schmeichel.

Ferguson's most selected XI: Schmeichel; Neville, Ferdinand, O'Shea, Irwin; Beckham, Scholes, Keane, Giggs; Solskjaer, Rooney

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