Jamie Redknapp has played down suggestions that Lionel Messi is the greatest player of all time.

The Barcelona forward has been labelled the best ever in some quarters, but Redknapp feels that such statements should not be made so hastily.

Redknapp thinks that although Messi is the finest footballer of the modern era, it is too difficult to compare against players who played during others periods in football history, such as Brazil and Argentina legends Pele and Diego Maradona.

"Messi is the greatest player of his generation. The best number 10 of this generation but is he the best ever? I hate to compare across generations," he said in the Daily Mail.

"How can you [compare], when in Pele's day people made tackles on him that you would be arrested for now?

"I was lucky enough to play against this genius (Maradona) in a charity match after he had retired. Gastric band and all, you would have struggled to get the ball off him in a telephone box."

Messi scored 60 goals in 50 appearances for Barcelona last season and is the only player in history to have won the Ballon d'Or four times.