Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes Barcelona star Neymar may have the potential to succeed Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the best player in the world, but he's not quite there yet.
Barcelona's Messi and Real Madrid talisman Ronaldo have dominated the FIFA World Player of the Year award in recent years. The duo's dominance is unlikely to be ended any time soon as they continue to break records in domestic Spanish football and the Champions League.
Yet in a recent interview with the SiriusXM FC channel, Ferguson said the Brazil international has the potential to emulate the duo as leading stars of the game.
"The boy Neymar gets a lot of publicity about the potential he's got, but I think that's still to be seen, still to be fulfilled," Ferguson said. "Certainly, most people I speak to speak highly of the boy.
"When I had Anderson at United, he spoke volumes about the boy's ability. So hopefully he'll be the next one who'll produce the type of talent we see in Messi and Ronaldo.
"You'll always look at clubs like Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United to produce that kind of player you're talking about, but to be honest, I'm not sure there's one sticking out at the moment."
Ferguson also offered glowing praise for Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti and said reports that his job is under threat at the Bernabeu less than a year after he led the club to a historic 10th Champions League will not concern the 55-year-old Italian.
"I think these types of jobs are difficult, particularly if there are elections coming up. Real Madrid and Barcelona have elections every third year I think it is," Ferguson said.
"It doesn't matter who the manager is. The election for a new president will be based on the success of the football team and what player he can buy and what coach he is going to sack.
"There's no doubt it works that way, but I don't think Carlo is under pressure. He probably is, because of the dynamics of that kind of football club.
"But for me, Carlo is one of the best coaches I've ever come across and one of my biggest opponents. So I wouldn't worry about his future, that's for sure.
"Carlo is a top man. I was over at the Real Madrid game with Schalke and he was fantastic. I can't say enough about that man. He is top drawer, a fantastic human being and a great coach."
Meanwhile, Ferguson said one of the reasons why he decided to end his historic reign as United boss was his declining energy levels in his final years.
"When I came to United in my early 40s everyone saw the energy, but when you get older you're the only one that recognises or knows the kind of energy you've got left," he said.
"I had to re-align myself when I got in to my 60s in terms of putting it in and the sleep I needed to maintain my energy until the very end because people expect to see the same energy all the time.
"That's the problem when you're leading a group of people all the time."