Sir Alex Ferguson claims there is no-one out there ready to challenge Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi for the title of the world's best player.
Former Manchester United boss Ferguson believes Messi and Ronaldo are out there on their own and have no immediate threat to their status as the best on the planet.
Neymar has been touted as a contender to Messi and Ronaldo, but Ferguson claimed the Barcelona and Brazil star has yet to justify the hype around him.
“You'll always look at clubs like Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United to produce that kind of player you're talking about,” said Ferguson.
“But to be honest I'm not sure there's one sticking out at the moment. The boy Neymar gets a lot of publicity about the potential he's got, but I think that's still to be seen, still to be fulfilled.
“Certainly, most people I speak to speak highly of the boy. When I had Anderson at United, he spoke volumes about the boy's ability.
“So hopefully he'll be the next one who'll produce the type of talent we see in Messi and Ronaldo.”
In a rare interview, Ferguson hailed Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti – who is under pressure at the Bernabeu and on Manchester City's radar – as one of the best coaches in the world,
And Ferguson suggested Ancelotti would have no trouble walking straight into another big job if Real ended this season empty-handed and he is shown the door.
Real have never kept a manager in a season when he has not won a trophy, and Ferguson said: “I think these types of jobs are difficult, particularly if there are elections coming up.
“Real Madrid and Barcelona have elections every third year I think it is.
“It doesn't matter who the manager is. The election for a new president will be based on the success of the football team and what player he can buy and what coach he is going to sack.
“There's no doubt it works that way, but I don't think Carlo is under pressure. He probably is, because, as you know, of the dynamics of that kind of football club.
“But, for me, Carlo is one of the best coaches I've ever come across and one of my biggest opponents, so I wouldn't worry about his future, that's for sure.”
Ferguson met with Ancelotti in Madrid after Real scraped past Schalke in the Champions League three weeks ago, despite the Spanish giants suffering a shock 4-3 defeat at home.
"Carlo is a top man," said Ferguson. "I was over at the Real Madrid game with Schalke and he was fantastic.
"He came up and he knew Darren [Ferguson's son] had lost his job at Peterbrough and said ' Why doesn't Darren come and spend a few days at Real Madrid training? It will do him the world of good'.
"He was fantastic. I can't say enough about that man. He is top drawer, a fantastic human being and a great coach."
Ferguson, speaking to the SiriusXM FC channel, also called for appeals to be allowed for two yellow cards – but resisted calls for more technology to be introduced.
“They keep talking about technology and obviously the goal-line technology is one thing,” said Ferguson.
“But I don't think you can introduce it for things like they're talking about - for free-kicks, yellow cards and red cards.
“I think it becomes really difficult that, because it becomes stop-start, stop start.
“But I think in terms of things like wrongful dismissals, there's a there-man panel that sits there on the red card.
"But the strange part is that if you get two yellow cards, you can't appeal against the second yellow card, which I think its a bit unfair.
“There could be two yellow cards wrongly given, and it amounts up to the same thing - a sending-off.
"I think the panel should be given an option for an appeal on a second yellow card.
“Technology will advance I suppose, but you can't have too many things that are going to be discussed on a video camera, because then it takes away a lot of the power from the referee.
“In which case it becomes a bit of a shambles, because the game would be stop-start, stop-start, stop-start, and you can't have that. Goal-line technology? Yes, but let's leave it there.”
