Robbie Savage has hailed former Wales team-mate Ryan Giggs the best player of the Premier League era.

Although competition for the accolade is fierce, Savage has no hesitation in naming Giggs number one after another outstanding performance from the 35-year-old in Manchester United's FA Cup win at Derby yesterday.

Giggs had a hand in all four United goals, plus the one Cristiano Ronaldo was controversially denied, and opinion is strengthening that he should win the major individual player of the year awards this spring.

Having spent the afternoon chasing after Giggs at Pride Park, Savage has no doubt his old international colleague is simply the best.

"I don't care what anyone else says, Ryan Giggs is the best Premier League player ever," Savage told Key 103.

"It is not just the trophies he has won or the goals he has scored, it is the way he has conducted himself.

"You can look at certain superstars in the game and question their lifestyles. But Ryan Giggs has won more than anybody and he conducts himself in a way he can only be proud of. He is a great character."

A former trainee at United who came through the Old Trafford ranks a year after Giggs in the famed 'Class of 92', Savage has kept in close contact with his countryman throughout his career.

And while the Derby man has built a reputation on being spiky and controversial, he revealed Giggs is capable of equally destructive comments in his own cheeky style.

"Before the Carling Cup semi-final recently, we were both warming up as substitutes," recalled Savage.

"Ryan came running up and really quietly whispered, 'I can't believe they are paying you all that money'. I tried to have a go back but he had run off. He is quite funny like that.

"Any kid learning about the game needs to look at him. Legend is a word used too often these days - but he is one."

Like Giggs', Savage's own career is drawing to a close, although at least the 34-year-old is contributing to the Derby cause under new manager Nigel Clough having been brought in, then discarded, by former boss Paul Jewell.

"It has been the most difficult four months of my career," said Savage.

"I was made to train with the kids at one stage, which was a real low point.

"At 34, with the career I have had, to end up doing that was soul destroying.

"But I feel it has made me a stronger person."

Savage clearly feels he can still make a valuable contribution in his own unique way.

He asserts that for a player who has never signed for any of the truly big clubs, he built a mighty reputation.

It might not be quite what he wants sometimes but Savage has no regrets on that score.

"If my close friends were to say I am like I am on the pitch in real life, that would upset me, otherwise I could not give two hoots," he said.

"The other people don't know me. Really I am just a genuine lad who links a pint and a game of darts.

"I guess my reputation has been built around getting a few tackles in and winding people up.

"But I need something like that to get me going. I need to smash someone in the first minute or the crowd to have a go at me. The more people who boo the better. I love it."