Eric Cantona's believes the world's best player is not Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi - but Paris St Germain and Argentina midfielder Javier Pastore.
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Ligue 1 champions PSG paid Italian club Palermo £28m for Pastore in the summer of 2011 and the 25-year-old has made steady progress since - but he failed to make this year's list of 23 Ballon d'Or nominees.
Despite his relative obscurity, Manchester United legend Cantona classes the playmaker above the likes of Barcelona's Messi and Real Madrid's Ronaldo, who have won every Ballon d'Or between them since 2008.
Cantona, 48, said: "Today the best player in the world, the most exciting player in the world, is Pastore from Paris Saint Germain.
"Why? Because I watched two games just to see Pastore playing, giving passes. He's got something special. Football is interaction, that is why football is so popular I think, and Pastore can do things that others don't know.
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"He does things that surprise you every time. Not only on scoring goals, spectacular goals all the time, just passing, passing.
"He's a very creative player, he's the most creative player in the world today, that's why I think he's the best player in the world because he's this kind of player - I love this kind of player."
Pastore has scored 32 goals in his 174 PSG appearances to date and has one goal in his 18 appearances for Argentina.
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