"We’ve had some brilliant centre-forwards like Mark Hughes and Brian McClair, who was very under-rated. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is a fabulous player. Andy Cole had a great time with us. He and Dwight Yorke had that fantastic season – that year they were the best partnership in Europe. Teddy Sheringham was also good. I’ve been very lucky to have had such fantastic strikers here in my time.
"Then you look at the current squad, with Alan Smith, Louis Saha and Wayne Rooney. But Van Nistelrooy has been the best.
"If I’d played alongside Ruud the problem would have been getting a chance ahead of him!" Ferguson added that during his 18 years at United, "the strides we have taken have been amazing."