Alex Ferguson has made a surprising claim about Eric Cantona

Alex Ferguson doesn't get much wrong but we think he is well off the mark about Eric Cantona in these comments about the Frenchman.

The former striker was widely regarded, or so we thought, as one of the best players ever to grace the English top-flight. 'King Eric' helped Manchester United end their title famine in the 1990s and was a mercurial figure both in and outside of the halls of Old Trafford. His genius was known to everyone and he made sure everyone knew it too. However in today's Telegraph interview but his former boss thinks that the former footballer tunred actor was much like all great true artists; under-appreciated in his own time.

"I spoke to Cantona every day. He was a very under-rated man and an interesting man. He needed the encouragement that he was at the right club. And he was at the right club. On the training ground you never got one ounce of difficulty with Cantona. Sometimes he would come in for training with his eyebrows down and you would say – what’s wrong with him today? Once he got warmed up, into training, he was fine.

Interesting we may not have known about. Being a good trainer too is enlightening. But under-appreciated. Non.