Juventus full-back Joao Cancelo believes that 35-year-old Dani Alves remains the best right-back in the world.
The Portuguese has earned rave reviews since his move to Turin from Valencia this summer and has helped his new side establish an eight-point lead at the top of the Serie A table.
But despite the quality and consistency of his own performances, Cancelo asserted his belief that Alves was still the best right-back in world football.
"Dani Alves, in my personal opinion, is the best right back in the world,” he told a press conference.
Considering Alves' age and the loss of form of chief competitors Joshua Kimmich and Dani Carvajal, there is a strong argument to suggest that Cancelo himself is the finest player in the role, or at least well on his way to being.
And the player himself insisted that his move to Juventus has improved his game and that he hopes to become the best right-sided defender in the world one day.
"Today, I am a more complete player and I want to continue improving in order to become the best."
Cancelo will come up against a number of former team-mates on Tuesday when the Bianconeri welcome Valencia to the Allianz Stadium.
The full-back joined the Spanish club on loan from Benfica in 2014, and the move was made permanent at the end of the season, staying until his transfer at the start of this campaign.
“Valencia are a great team and it's surely going to be a special game for me. I spent three great years at the Mestalla but now I play for Juve and we absolutely want to get the three points tomorrow.
"I've learnt a lot playing in Italy as I did in Spain."
Cancelo also reflected on his side's loss against Manchester United in their last Champions League outing, falling to a 2-1 defeat as they conceded twice in the final five minutes of normal time while 1-0 up.
"The game against Manchester United was a strange one. We had most of the chances and controlled the match but still ended up losing. We deserved to win but football is like this sometimes."