Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand heaped praise on Manchester City winger Jack Grealish following Manchester City’s 4-0 thrashing of Real Madrid on Wednesday night.

“It was meticulous recruitment,” Ferdinand told BT Sport. “He (Guardiola) saw something and went: ‘This is going to be different to what I’ve had before’.

“Raheem Sterling was the player playing before him. He was very different player, but he’s seen something in Jack and thought it’d give another dimension to this team.

“He’s all about retaining the ball, holding the ball and bringing players through him. And that releases other players into spaces. (Ilkay) Gundogan for instance flies into those pockets where players are dragged out towards Jack.

“Whether it’s Gundogan or Rodri sometimes, or Kevin De Bruyne, it’s not just what he does, it’s how he triggers other people.

“And you look at the depth of this squad by the way. (Riyad) Mahrez, can’t get in this team. Phil Foden, (Julian) Alvarez. He’s a World Cup winner, comes on and scores. Their depth is just wow.”

Former Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott added: “They’re remarkable. Jack Grealish has transferrable skills, they recognised what he was doing at Aston Villa and went ‘if we can get him into those positions at Manchester City, he’ll be playing with better players and will have more options’. Credit to all parties, all round.”