After Cristiano Ronaldo left the door open to a Manchester United return, after confessing he missed us after signing for “dream club” Real Madrid, Sir Alex Ferguson has named him as the best player in the world.

“Ronaldo is the best player in the world, but I am biased,” said Ferguson. “When you lose a great player he is a loss and you have to recover from that and look at your team differently – you have to get on with it, you can’t sit around and complain about not having him, and you have to move on and I think we have but he was a marvellous player.”

Ferguson is obviously a massive fan of Wayne Rooney though and claims that he is one of the best players in the world.

“Manchester United builds up heroes very quickly,” he continued. “We are peculiar because the players, like Beckham, who come through the ranks are always viewed as better than those you buy. But Rooney is also regarded as that kind of player. Although he came from Everton, the fans will always look at him as one of the players who has grown up with us. He has been fantastic this season and, without doubt, his form this season has brought him to the high point of his career. World-class is a misused term, but with Rooney, you have to say he is getting to the point where he is now one of the best players in the world.”