Eric Cantona: Javier Pastore is the best player in the world

Cantona, who played 45 times for France, scoring 20 goals, won four Premier League titles in five years with United after joining from Leeds United in 1992.

After his sudden retirement in 1997, he began a career in cinema, notably starring in Ken Loach's 'Looking for Eric' in 2009.

And speaking ahead of the Laureus Sports Awards in Shanghai, Cantona surprisingly selected Pastore as his pick of the world’s best players.

“For me, the best player in the world is Javier Pastore,” said Cantona.

“I watched two PSG games just to see him play. For me, he is the most creative player at the moment. Pastore is full of surprises. I love this kind of player.”

Pastore signed for PSG from Palermo in 2011 for a fee in the region of £30 million but has struggled to fully impose himself in the French capital.

Javier Pastore is a very accomplished footballer, and, on his day, can cause trouble to the most proficient of defences. However, he patently is not the world’s best player. In fact, he probably is not the best player at his club, PSG – Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani or Blaise Matuidi probably lay claim to that accolade. Without putting words into Cantona's mouth, this is probably a question of aesthetics – Pastore undoubtedly has an appealing style of play: quite languid yet highly, highly effective. The fact Cantona says he “loves this kind of player”, is revealing. Pastore is his type of player but does that make him the best in the world? No, unfortunately.