Legendary football manager Sir Alex Ferguson says he believes Louis Van Gaal has the right pedigree for Manchester United - and that his press conferences are "brilliant".
In a rare and wide-ranging post-retirement interview, the former Manchester United boss grins as he applauds Van Gaal for making journalists "twitch in their seats".
He went on to describe Argentinian Lionel Messi and Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo as "above everyone" in terms of quality on the football pitch.
Referring to Van Gaal, he says: "Every manager's different anyway; we all have different philosophies, beliefs, ways of doing things - the way we pick teams, how we look at the qualities of players we are looking for, we enjoy.
"Louis' got a great background; Bayern Munich, Barcelona - he's got the pedigree, no doubt about that."
He continued: "And I love his press conferences, I mean they are brilliant. I can see some of the press guys twitch in their seats when he answers some of the questions. And he's got the confidence to deal with that."
Describing the "consistency" and "courage" of Messi and Ronaldo he goes on: "They are never ever defeated by a tackle.
"They get up, they say 'give me the ball'. The goals they score, the level they are playing at, the medals they won - it only points to one thing.
"These two players, and I think most players in the world would agree with me, these two players are above everyone."
Sir Alex also praised David Beckham for his work ethic and went on to describe what he felt most proud of in his career.
"Five times we were runners-up in the Premier League since it started," he said.
"The next year we won it. That tells you about recovery, not allowing defeat to kill you, and doing something about it - and I think that's what I'm proud of."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
