Manchester United icon Paul Scholes has compared outgoing midfielder Sofyan Amrabat to ‘prime’ Gennaro Gattuso after the Moroccan’s superb FA Cup final display. Amrabat was among United’s best performers as they beat Manchester City 2-1 at Wembley Stadium.

Erik ten Hag had spoken before the match of needing a defensive midfielder to block the space often exploited by City playmaker Phil Foden. Amrabat did that expertly in a midfield pairing with Kobbie Mainoo, who scored United’s second goal and also received high praise from Scholes.

United are not expected to retain Amrabat for next season, with the 27-year-old’s loan from Fiorentina set to end. The Red Devils signed Amrabat to much fanfare following his performances for Morocco at the 2022 World Cup, but his spell at Old Trafford has not gone entirely to plan.

Only 10 of his 21 Premier League appearances came as starts and he was one of the players who spent large parts of the campaign injured. However, Scholes was happy to put that to one side to praise Amrabat for his FA Cup final performance, comparing him to AC Milan great Gattuso.

“Like a prime Gattusso today,” the former midfielder wrote on his Instagram story alongside a picture of Amrabat lifting the trophy.

Scholes also had high praise for the 19-year-old midfielder Mainoo, the academy graduate who finished United’s second goal after Alejandro Garnacho opened the scoring. The 49-year-old said he had been aware of comparisons between himself and Mainoo, but insisted that the current Red Devils star is better.

He wrote: "Read a few comparisons between me and this kid last week...don't waste your time, he is 10 times the player I was at 19. Just love the way he receives the ball, the calmness, the awareness of what's around him and of course big goals in big games. This boy is special, and he's a f****** Red… laters."

United are not expected to trigger a reported £21million release clause in Amrabat’s loan deal. INEOS will instead pursue other midfield targets as part of an overhaul of the first-team squad.

That is despite Amrabat insisting that remaining at the club is an option. He said on Saturday: ”Do I already know what I’m going to do next year? No. We are going to talk.

“Staying is certainly an option. Look, I think it has been a very difficult season. For Manchester United it needs to be much better, and also for me personally.”