Filmmakers are seeking an actor to play George Best in a biopic of the Manchester United legend.

The Manchester Evening News says the makers are preparing to scour football academies in a bid to find someone skillful enough to be believable as the Northern Irishman.

Best, who played more than 350 times for Manchester United, winning the league twice and the European Cup in 1968, is regarded as one of the best players ever to play the game.

Producer Stephen Evans is said to want a footballer who can be taught to act, rather than an actor posing as a footballer.

The recruitment process is to be similar to one he used when making Seve, a film about Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros.