Kanchelskis: I was lucky to play with Manchester United great Cantona

Andrei Kanchelskis feels privileged to have played alongside Eric Cantona during their time at Manchester United.

Wednesday marks the 25th anniversary of Cantona's United debut as a half-time substitute during a 2-1 win over Manchester City at Old Trafford.

The enigmatic Frenchman's arrival from Leeds United proved to be the spark for United's incredible run of success in the 1990s under Alex Ferguson and he collected four league titles, while his goals in FA Cup finals helped to turn two of those into domestic doubles.

Kanchelskis joined United in 1991 and the livewire winger burned brightly alongside Cantona before falling out of favour with Ferguson and joining Everton in 1995.

"I was very, very luck to play with Cantona," the former Russia winger told Omnisport, speaking at the signing of his book Russian Winters: The Story of Andrei Kanchelskis (deCoubertin).

"When he came to Manchester he was a different style of player [than we were used to]. He was very clever with good technique, good vision and good passing.

"I saw him score a lot of goals and he was a nice person. I was lucky to play with and against a lot of good players in Manchester, at Everton, in Italy but especially Eric.

"I was very comfortable playing with Eric. He was an excellent player."

United host City in the latest edition of the fixture where Cantona made his bow this Sunday.