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Jamie Carragher has claimed that Manchester City will never be bigger than their nemeses Manchester United and Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola has done an immense job in raising City's profile, winning them six Premier League titles and lifting the Champions League as well as the Club World Cup.
But in Carragher's mind, even if they go on winning trophies, it will be almost impossible for them to overtake the history and global renown of United and Liverpool.
The Liverpool legend was speaking to Daily Mail Sport ahead of Liverpool's trip to Manchester City on Sunday, the latest instalment of a rivalry which has heated up ever since Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp's now-legendary battles.
'Manchester City will never be bigger than Manchester United. And Liverpool vs Man City will never be bigger than Liverpool vs Man United,' he declared.
'That just won’t happen, it can’t happen. Historically, Liverpool and Manchester United will always be the biggest two clubs in this country. I don’t think that will ever change.
Manchester City will never be as big as Manchester United or Liverpool, says Jamie Carragher
City have been building their profile but Carragher feels the other two are unassailable
'It’s very difficult for teams who come later. It’s almost set in stone who the huge clubs are.
'They [City] may end up having more trophies and league titles if they carry on winning and if United keep not being in the shout for trophies, but it’s difficult to see any club in this country ever being above Liverpool or Manchester United in terms of size and stature.'
Carragher was speaking to Daily Mail Sport on Friday from Tranmere while helping to launch a new phase of the Every Minute Matters CPR campaign in association with the British Heart Foundation and Sky Bet.
Liverpool currently lead the way in total trophies, having lifted 70 since being established in 1892.
Twenty of those have been English top-flight titles - a record they share with Manchester United - while they have also claimed six European Cups/Champions Leagues, a haul bettered only by Real Madrid and AC Milan.
United, meanwhile, have won 68 trophies in total, with three of those being European Cups/Champions Leagues.
Since their takeover by Sheikh Mansour in 2008, City have progressed so rapidly on the pitch that they are now the joint-fourth-most successful in English history.
While Arsenal are a clear third with 49 trophies, City have drawn level with Chelsea on 36.
The scores are a bit closer when it comes to social media following, which you could use as a gauge for global interest.
Manchester United have the most of any English club with 65.4 million Instagram followers, while City have 56.2 million and Liverpool trail on 49 million.
And City have actually streaked ahead on TikTok, claiming 33.1 million fans while United have 30.9 million and Liverpool have 28.1 million.
They also rank second globally in the Deloitte Money League, with a revnue of £736.64million exceeding that of United, who rank fourth with £677.55m, and Liverpool, who come in eighth at £628.4m.
Historically, though, it is hard to argue against the magnitude of United and Liverpool, who are still estimated to have more fans than City worldwide by some distance. Previous estimated have placed United's global following at 650 million people, Liverpool's at 535 million, and City's at 390 million.
Alongside a busy schedule talking all things football - including a friendly chat with Daily Mail Sport on Friday - Carragher has devoted his time to helping raise awareness around CPR.
On Friday, he was helping to launch a month-long awareness drive to equip grassroots football clubs with lifesaving CPR and defibrillation skills.
Despite it being such a common issue, and affecting footballers such as Fabrice Muamba and Tom Lockyer in high-profile cases, only 51 per cent of grassroots clubs feel prepared to deal with a cardiac arrest.
In recent years, Carragher has worked with the Oliver King Foundation, which was established in 2012 after Oliver died after a cardiac arrest in a swimming race. The foundation has since given out more than 7,000 defibrillators and campaigned for the government to ensure every state school in England has access to one.
'Too many people still think you have to be a medical professional to step in, but that’s simply not true,' Carragher says.
'Anyone can learn these lifesaving skills. It doesn’t matter who you are or what level you play in the Championship, at, Sunday league, five-a-side or walking football, if someone collapses, you want the confidence to act.
'And that confidence comes from training. That’s why I’m urging everyone in grassroots football to take 15 minutes to learn CPR and defibrillation with the BHF’s brilliant free online tool, RevivR.'
He added: 'It's about making people not panic too much and think it's a complicated piece of kit that you can't work. It's very self-explanatory and talking you through every stage. It's very important that we take away that fear factor of people using a defibrillator.'
