Owen Hargreaves has laughed off claims that Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland are ready to replace Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the two best players in the world.
Mbappe and Haaland have inspired their Paris Saint-Germain and Dortmund sides to the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a string of superb individual displays.
Messi and Ronaldo, meanwhile, will play no further part in the competition after Barcelona and Juventus were knocked out at the last-16 stage.
Some have suggested this is a passing of the torch moment, with both Messi and Ronaldo arguably past their best.
But speaking on BT Sport, Hargreaves insisted both Mbappe and Haaland still have a long way to go before they can even be considered in the same league.
"There’s no denying Mbappe and Haaland are two of the best young players in the whole world, but the fact of the matter is Ronaldo and Messi have longevity on their side,’ Hargreaves said.
"I know Mbappe and Haaland can’t have that because they’re only young and they’re performing at a higher level, the numbers don’t lie, but Ronaldo and Messi have done this for 15 years.
"Until these guys do this for five years straight they can’t even be in the conversation with those two, with the utmost respect.
"They are out-producing them, but Ronaldo’s in a pretty poor Juventus team, Messi’s in a pretty poor Barcelona team, which we haven’t seen.
"In that sense, it’s exciting we’ve got the young guys that are producing as they are but the longevity we have to respect that these guys have produced for the years that they have."
It remains to be seen who out of Mbappe and Haaland progresses furthest with their respective teams in the Champions League this season.
But we could be left with the mouthwatering prospect of the two facing off against each other if PSG and Dortmund are picked to face each other in next Friday's quarter-final draw.
