Zlatan Ibrahimovic would be the best player in the world if it weren't for Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona's Lionel Messi.

That is the opinion of Hernan Crespo who believes the Swedish striker is a phenomenal player that has been unfortunate to have had a career parallel with two of the games all-time greats.

Crespo and Ibrahimovic played together at Inter Milan between 2006 and 2009 and the Argentine genuinely believes he is in the top few players in world football.

“Make no mistake about it, he is a phenomenon," Crespo wrote in a blog for The Guardian.

“He has been unlucky to play in the same era as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, otherwise he would have been the best player of his time."

Crespo added: “Zlatan always made me score lots of goals – four or five – in training matches and then, on Sundays, in the league, he always scored.

“I told him: 'If you passed to me like you do in training then I would be top scorer!'

“And then he smiled because he became the top scorer in Serie A in the end. And in the meantime he learned how to think more about others."