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Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has moved to clarify comments he made about the world-class players he worked with during his time at the club, insisting he was referring to those stars who made a big difference in the team.

Ferguson named Eric Cantona, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo as the four world-class talents he worked with during his Old Trafford tenure in his new book, Leading. Speaking on SiriusXM FC (h/t James Whaling of the Daily Mirror), Ferguson added some colour to his claims:

If you look at the time I was at for United for 27 years, I had some fantastic players, some great players. I never said those players were not great, they were fantastic. But in the context in my opinion, it was a qualified opinion, that some players make a difference, and that’s what I judged. Eric Cantona, when he came into the club in 1993 he made a difference. Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs played for 20 years in the Premier League, that made a difference to us. And of course, Cristiano Ronaldo’s performances, he is a world-class player as everyone knows. Him and [Lionel] Messi are the two world-class players.

Naturally, the points made by Ferguson did trigger plenty of debate among the United fanbase, and further afield in football, too. This was a team that dominated long spells of the Premier League under the Scot’s tutelage after all, with players such as Roy Keane, David Beckham, Peter Schmeichel and Wayne Rooney strutting their stuff at Old Trafford.

Much depends, of course, on how the manager does define world-class. It’s a term that doesn’t seem to have categorical criteria for, as Nooruddean Choudry of Joe.co.uk notes here:

Admittedly, it is a term that gets bandied around quite often and tagged to players prematurely. Sometimes, a few moments of magic in the top flight are enough for someone to be dubbed with this moniker, so in that sense, it’s refreshing to hear someone such as Ferguson be so stringent when it comes to defining these types of talents.

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The players Ferguson mentioned certainly made a major difference over a prolonged period, but so did others under the Scot’s tenure. Keane, most notably, was the driving force behind a plethora of United’s triumphs, winning tackles, surging forward and scoring critical goals. However, the two fell out before the Irishman left United.

Oliver Holt of the Mail on Sunday disagrees with Ferguson’s judgement of Keane and thinks some underlying bitterness may be behind his exclusion:

Others definitely have a case too, such as Schmeichel, who was long the best goalkeeper in the world during his stint with the Red Devils. Also, Beckham was a wonderful player in the United team after coming through the club’s academy, while Rooney and Ruud van Nistelrooy where two of the best strikers in the world at their peak.

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When the book did come out, former United defender Rio Ferdinand, another who could warrant a world-class tag, posted a substantial Facebook post about his views on the matter, quizzing, “Where was mine among a few other names boss!!”

Sam Pilger of FourFourTwo definitely thinks Beckham should have been in for his set-piece taking qualities:

Ferguson is a manager who has fallen out with a lot of the aforementioned players, though, and you do wonder if that’s clouded his judgement.

In addition, the Red Devils icon has made peculiar claims about players in the past, stating in his last book that he didn’t feel as though ex-Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard was a “top, top player.”

Still, when the lines are so blurred when it comes categorising a world-class player, these kind of debates are always going to crop up when high-profile figures express their opinion on the matter.