Manchester City boss Sven Goran Eriksson says Elano is the Premiership's answer to Barcelona superstar Ronaldinho.

The former England manager said: "If you're a footballer, if you're a fan, you want to see players like that. You don't have to be a Barcelona fan to like Ronaldinho.

"You want to see those who have something special and Elano is one of those.

"You can call him a playmaker. He's not a striker and he's not a midfielder, I think his best position is behind the strikers.

"He is very good at finding space, he can bring in players, he can shoot. He sees things very quickly, sometimes I wonder if he has got eyes in his back. It's a gift some players have and some will never have it."

Speaking on a new City DVD, The Sven Revolution, Eriksson told how he believes the fact top players such as Elano are arriving in the blue half of Manchester is proof he is taking the club in the right direction.

And Eriksson, who will again dip into owner Thaksin Shinawatra's millions to beef up the team in January, believes he can lure more top names.

He said: "I think many players I bought so far had the same question as I had - where were City in the table? But afterwards it was perfect. I had the feeling it would be a good football team, but at that time I was very surprised."

Eriksson snapped up his new players so quickly they started the season as virtual strangers. "I'm not sure the players knew each others' names," he said. "It was difficult at that time, but you could see during that game it could be good.

"I told the players we didn't have a lot of time to get it right, and that it was important they did their best. My message to them was, 'We don't speak the same language, you're from different parts of the world, so you have to put effort in and help each other' and they did."