Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville has heaped praise on Denis Irwin after legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson named the Irishman in his dream United XI.
Full-back Irwin was part of the Red Devils' first ever Premier League winning side in 1992-93 and also started under Ferguson in the 1999 Champions League final victory. The Republic of Ireland international made more than 500 appearances for the club, all under their Scottish boss, winning seven league titles.
Neville was speaking after he himself was shortlisted for the Premier League Hall of Fame, alongside several former United colleagues including Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. And he was at pains to argue Irwin should have also made the cut.
"Denis Irwin is criminally underrated, best full back since the Premier League began Gary or are we seeing this through red tinted glasses?" one fan asked Neville on social media. "I don’t think we are though."
"Agree! Denis is the best full back in PL history! Fact," was the former England right-back's reply.
Irwin was already established in United's squad when Neville broke into the first-team as a teenager, and the pair lined up on opposite sides of the back four when Ferguson's team won their famous treble in the 1998-99 season. However, while eight-time league champion Neville found his name on the shortlist, Irwin was made to wait.
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Neville's comments sync up with those of Ferguson, who was asked in 2013 to pick out a dream XI from his trophy-laden career. While he considered the task as a whole to be "impossible," the Scot insisted Irwin would make the cut in any such team.
"It is absolutely impossible," Ferguson told the Sunday World. "You look at the strikers I had, going back to [Brian] McClair, [Mark] Hughes, [Andy] Cole, Cantona, [Ruud] van Nistelrooy, [Louis] Saha, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, [Dwight] Yorke, Teddy Sheringham.
"Then to the present players - Wayne Rooney, [Robin] van Persie, Chicharito [Javier Hernandez]. How do you pick out of that? Cantona and somebody else maybe?"
"The midfield was probably a bit easier because you have [Roy] Keane, [Bryan] Robson and [Paul] Scholes - they were fantastic players - and [David] Beckham, Ronaldo and [Ryan] Giggs."
"Honestly, I would say Denis Irwin would be the one certainty to get in the team. I called him an eight out of 10.
"At Highbury in one game, he had a bad pass back in the last minute and [Dennis] Bergkamp came in and scored. After the game the press said: 'You must be disappointed in that pass back.' I said: 'Well, one mistake in 10 years isn't bad.' He was an unbelievable player."
