Gary Neville hails Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke as best strike partnership in his time at Manchester United

The combination inspired United to conquer Europe on their way to a famous treble

Neville believes Cole and Yorke were the best partnership in his time at Old Trafford (Getty)

Gary Neville insists Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke were the best strike partnership during his time at Manchester United.

Neville assessed the options during his 19 years at Old Trafford, which included great forwards such as Eric Cantona, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney.

And Neville believes Cole and Yorke were so successful due to their mindset, with both players indifferent as to who scored the goals each week.

“I don’t think they really hit it off to start with in memory,” Neville said on Monday Night Football. “I think it took like 10 or 15 games for them to get together.

“Leicester away sticks in my mind where they both played together and something happened that day.

Yorke and Cole celebrate winning the Champions League (Getty)

“Then I think they started socialising together, getting on with each other. There was a respect between each other.

“And I think that’s unique because when you’ve got a goalscorer like Cole, or players like Ruud van Nistelrooy or Michael Owen, it’s always sort of the goalscorer who needs to score for them to be happy.

“But actually with Coley and Yorkey they got to the point whereby they didn’t care if either of them scored, they were both happy with each other.”

Neville then lauded Yorke’s all-round ability when recalling his impactful alongside Cole.

“Dwight Yorke, he was an unbelievable player, he could do all things, score goals, set up play, run in behind, dribble, bring other people into play. He was the all-round centre-forward,” Neville added.

“When I first came into the team it was [Eric] Cantona and [Mark] Hughes, then that period we had Yorke and Cole, and Teddy and Ole, then it went into Ruud, and then Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez who were sensational as well.

“I’d probably say Yorke and Cole [were the best] just for that season where they were just absolutely sensational, the way they played together they just lit up the whole league, lit up Europe.”