Former striker Chris Greenacre has weighed in on the best footballer he's played with.

Greenacre played most of his senior career in England, going out on loan a few times while spending the bulk of his years with Manchester City, Mansfield Town, Stoke City and Tranmere Rovers before retiring with Wellington Phoenix in the A-League.

When quizzed about who was one of the greatest he'd ever played with, only one name came to mind for the Englishman.

"Georgi Kinkladze, oh my goodness! The things he could do were simply unbelievable," Greenacre told TribalFootball.com.

"For those who don't know him, I'd probably say he was the nearest thing to Maradona in terms of his ability. He played with a low centre of gravity and that enabled him to shift his hips quite easily and fly past players."

Greenacre admits he was in awe of City's cult hero as a youngster coming through the club's much vaunted youth system. Having the chance to train with the Georgian was an experience he treasures even up to today.

"During training he would pass 3 or 4 players easily and leave us all amazed, and he was quite strong for his size (5'9"). The players and fans just loved him, his ability to make passes was just phenomenal. He's quite arguably the best I've ever been involved with."

Both Kinkladze and Greenacre were at City between 1995-1998, with the Georgian going on to score 22 goals in 118 appearances while Greenacre trained alongside and admired the creative midfielder as a youngster.

While Georgia have never qualified for an international tournament, Kinkladze made 57 appearances and scored 9 goals for the nation between 1992-2005.