Sir Alex Ferguson managed a handful of some of the world’s best players during his time at Manchester United.
The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes and Eric Cantona are all among those that immediately spring to mind when attempting to rack up a list of some of the players to have strutted their stuff at Old Trafford.
However, Sir Alex had a few forgotten stars in mind when asked to name his best-ever United XI - a task that he originally labelled as “absolutely impossible”. Two examples of those in particular are former Red Devils forwards Louis Saha and Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez.
Speaking last year, Ferguson said: "You look at the strikers I had, going back to [Brian] McClair, [Mark] Hughes, [Andy] Cole, Cantona, [Ruud] van Nistelrooy, [Louis] Saha, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, [Dwight] Yorke, Teddy Sheringham.
"Then to the present players - Wayne Rooney, [Robin] van Persie, Chicharito [Javier Hernandez]. How do you pick out of that? Cantona and somebody else maybe?
"The midfield was probably a bit easier because you have [Roy] Keane, [Bryan] Robson and [Paul] Scholes - they were fantastic players - and [David] Beckham, [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Ryan] Giggs."
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While Saha and Hernandez are probably not perceived as two of the best players in United history, the pair still racked up their fair share of honours in Manchester. The Frenchman lifted two Premier League titles, the Champions League and the League Cup having arrived from Fulham in 2004.
Hernandez went on to lift two Premier League crowns across his five-year spell at Old Trafford. Regardless, Sir Alex was left in no doubt over who the most talented player that he had signed during his time at the club was - Portuguese icon Cristiano Ronaldo.
Writing in his official autobiography, he said: “Cristiano Ronaldo was the most gifted player I managed. He surpassed all the other great ones I coached at United. And I had many.
“The only ones who could be placed near him would be a couple of the home-produced players, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, because they contributed so prodigiously to Manchester United for two decades.”
One man that could also come into contention is Red Devils icon Denis Irwin. "Honestly, I would say Denis Irwin would be the one certainty to get in the team. I called him an eight out of 10," Ferguson continued.
"At Highbury in one game, he had a bad pass back in the last minute and [Dennis] Bergkamp came in and scored. After the game the press said: 'You must be disappointed in that pass back.' I said: 'Well, one mistake in 10 years isn't bad.' He was an unbelievable player."
