Manchester United hero Andy Cole has told the current crop of strikers at Old Trafford to wait until the end of the season before claiming to be a success.

This week saw Manchester United’s current fab four, Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie, Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck praised in the same terms as Cole was when he enjoyed success in Manchester.

Cole believes that his time at Old Trafford is still superior to the current era, but isn’t ruling out anything come the end of the season.

“I was very fortunate to play with three very, very good strikers,” Cole told The Sun.

“But however you look at it, we all got judged on what we’d done come the end of the season.

“And the four boys playing now will only get judged on what they’ve done come the end of the season.

“Naturally you’re going to get all the plaudits during the campaign if you’re scoring goals and doing well.

“But people ask if they are better than the strikers I played with and only time will tell.

“We were judged by the end of the season, not judged in the middle.

“Come the end of the season they might not have won anything.”