Paul Scholes welcome to return to Manchester United on casual basis, says Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Scholes stepped down from his role at Oldham on Thursday, just 31 days after being appointed as manager

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has opened the door to Paul Scholes returning to Manchester United on a casual basis after his departure from Oldham Athletic.

Scholes stepped down from his role at Oldham on Thursday, just 31 days after being appointed as the League Two club’s manager.

The former United midfielder played alongside Solskjaer between 1996 and 2007 and would be welcomed back if he wished to return.

Solskjaer stopped short of promising Scholes a permanent place on his backroom team, but suggested his old team-mate could come back to Carrington for ‘study visits’.

“He’s probably got his reasons why he left,” Solskjaer said, when asked for his reaction to Scholes’ surprise exit from Boundary Park.

“You’ve gotta ask him. He’s invited here if he wants to come and have a little chat about it. We’ve texted and it didn’t work out, that’s just management.

When asked to clarify whether his offer to Scholes was a genuine one, Solskjaer said: “Definitely, yeah.

“It’s been great so far and you see ex-players coming in and if they want to learn, if they want to stay for a few days, a week.

“Kieran [McKenna], Michael [Carrick], ‘Demps’ [Mark Dempsey] and even in the academy, there’s so many good coaches.

“I know when I was away that I would have loved to come in and maybe do some study visits but I had work so I didn’t get the time to do it.”

United travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup this weekend also learned their Champions League fate on Friday.

Solskjaer’s side will meet Barcelona in the last eight, with the decisive second leg to be played at the Nou Camp on 16 April.

The Norwegian’s most famous goal in United colours – the winner in the 1999 final – came on that very ground.

“Yes, it had to be [Barcelona],” he said on Friday, in the aftermath of the draw. “We want these games against the biggest clubs and the biggest teams.

“We had the finals against them in 2009 and 2011 and the semi-final in 2008 when Scholesy scored, and it’s those games that our supporters and this club crave. We are looking forward to this one.”

Solskjaer added that he and his players believe they are capable of going all the way in the competition after their incredible comeback win against Paris Saint-Germain.

United were on their way out of the competition until Marcus Rashford’s contentious late penalty in Paris sent them through on away goals after drawing 3-3 on aggregate.

“I think we’ve shown against PSG that on any given day we can beat a top team,” Solskjaer said.

“Then again there’s so many variables and these games will be decided by margins.

“And of course that VAR, even though for me it’s a penalty, you can still be unlucky and not get it in the last minute and then we’d be out and no one would really remember the PSG performance.

“So yes, we can go all the way but you’ve got to be lucky and good along the way.”