Liverpool legend John Barnes has lavished praise on his old teammate Alan Hansen.
The former Reds defender may be better known to the current generation for his Match of the Day punditry.
But he was a top class player at his prime, and Barnes believes that Hansen would have fit into any team in the world.
"Alan Hansen: get him in any world team, any time, any era. [He was] so far ahead of his time," Barnes told the club's website.
"Alan could play now. In fact, he wasn't necessarily the strongest centre-back in terms of getting a broken nose and being physical with a big centre-forward, which he had to be when he was playing against [the likes of] Mick Harford, John Fashanu - the centre-forwards of the old days.
"But he was clever enough be able to handle them [and] more importantly, his ability on the ball… particularly at that time, when football was just about defending if you were a centre-back, the majority of passes I got in good areas were from Alan Hansen bringing the ball out.
"He started all our attacks… he was so influential in terms of the way we played. He wasn't a shouter and he led by example in the way he played.
"He wasn't a screamer or a baller and he wouldn't lead like Graeme Souness would lead, but in terms of him being the most influential player at Liverpool, for me Alan Hansen definitely would be that one."
