Sir Alex Ferguson has made a surprising claim about Eric Cantona

Sir Alex Ferguson doesn't get much wrong butsome may be surprised by his comments about Eric Cantona.

The French striker was widely regarded, or so we thought, as one of the best players ever to grace the English top-flight. 'King Eric' helped Manchester United end their title famine in the 1990s and was a mercurial figure both in and outside of the halls of Old Trafford. His genius was known to everyone and he made sure everyone knew it too. However in an interview with the Daily Telegraph his former boss thinks that the footballer-turned actor was much like all great true artists; under-appreciated in his own time.

"I spoke to Cantona every day. He was a very under-rated man and an interesting man. He needed the encouragement that he was at the right club. And he was at the right club. "On the training ground you never got one ounce of difficulty with Cantona. Sometimes he would come in for training with his eyebrows down and you would say – what’s wrong with him today? Once he got warmed up, into training, he was fine.

Interesting, and something we may not have known about Cantona But do we think he was under-rated? Non.