Manchester United legend Denis Irwin is critical of Sir Alex Ferguson over his 'four world class players' remark.

Ferguson created a stir recently when publicising his latest book 'Leading' by saying Ryan Giggs, Cantona, Paul Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo were the only four world-class players he had during his 27 years at Old Trafford.

But Irwin says: "I played with Roy Keane and he was world-class.

"Of the other players in my era, I'd start with our goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel as world class. Scholesy and Giggsy too, and I would say Bryan Robson.

"I am not sure you could say Eric was world-class. He was the catalyst for that early success of the team but he didn't do it for France on the international stage and whether he did it for Manchester United in the Champions League is open to debate."