Arsene Wenger has compared Raheem Sterling to his former Arsenal winger Marc Overmars.
The Frenchman was discussing Man City star Sterling's rise to become one of the top players in world football with Bein Sports.
Sterling has enjoyed a flying start to the season again under boss Pep Guardiola, with suggestions he could be a future Ballon d'Or winner.
Wenger stopped short of agreeing that Sterling could take up the mantel left by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi when they retire, but admitted there were similarities between him and Overmars .
"You have always to be careful, I personally like Sterling but when you talk about these guys [Ronaldo and Messi] you are talking about 50 goals a season for 10 seasons,' Wenger said.
"So, I think personally that he is not there but he is one of the prominent players in the [Premier] League - which is one of the best in Europe."
"I always thought when he was a young boy, I thought he had unbelievable pace and quantity of power to repeat that pace.
"Both he and [Leroy] Sane are the highest intensity workers in the league, he is so quick on his first two yards, he reminds me of Marc Overmars. That’s unstoppable.
"What Sterling didn’t have back then was calmness in his finishing but now he has that. Sometimes, with very fast players they want to rush their finish and that’s what he has improved.
"He has confidence. He still misses some, his conversion rate could be improved, but he is an exceptional talent and he can cause damage against anybody."
Overmars played under Wenger's watch for three seasons, and was part of their double-winning success of 1998.
He notched 41 goals in 142 appearances for the north London club before sealing a move to Barcelona in 2000.
