Arsenal midfielder Rice and Chelsea’s Caicedo are often named as the two best midfielders in the English top flight as they are paramount to their club’s control of the game each and every week.
Scholes does not rate Caicedo
Rice made a £105M move from The Hammers to North London some years ago whilst Caicedo, who cost £115M from Brighton in 2023 is equally costly.
However, despite their hefty price tag and obvious ability, Scholes spoke on The Overlap about how he believes two other stars have more to offer and could be judged to be better in the middle.
"I still don't class Moises Caicedo as an all-round midfield player. I know he scored a great goal and was brilliant the other day.
"I got some stick last year after having a go at him and I almost thought about taking that back because he was brilliant in the Club World Cup. I just prefer the controlling type of midfield players who play with a bit more style and can score goals a bit more often than Caicedo.
"It was a brilliant goal against Liverpool but you wouldn't be surprised if he didn't do that again for another 18 months, would you? He's one of the best at what he does which is breaking up the play, he's brilliant at that. But I prefer the other types.”
Tonali and Mac Allister hold more quality
Scholes reckons Newcastle United star Sandro Tonali and Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister are players he prefers and he explained exactly why.
"Alexis Mac Allister was absolutely brilliant last season, he controlled a lot of games and I think Liverpool are missing that at the moment. I love Sandro Tonali as well.
"He's been brilliant. Very good. I would probably choose Tonali at this point."
Asked if he was saying Tonali is the best midfielder in the league, he added: "Yes, you're going to say Declan Rice but I think he's better than Rice. I really like Rice, don't get me wrong, I think he's got everything.
"Sometimes he takes a few too many touches of the ball and tries to look a bit more stylish than necessary. He can do everything but I just don't think he does it enough. I prefer Tonali, but they're both good players."