It's an illustrious short-list which would grace any team in the world.
Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Eric Cantona, Peter Schmeichel, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Ian Wright, Robbie Fowler, Dennis Bergkamp..........
The argument over who is Premier League's greatest-ever player is one which has raged at grounds, in pubs and within households for years. It will continue to do so.
For the Sunderland manager, there is just one individual who stands head and shoulders above his peers, and it's a player he knows well.
His name is Ryan Giggs.
Whatever your criteria for judging greatness, Bruce clearly has a point. And he's not just tossed the Welshman'sname into the mix as a blatant platitude to ensure his former team-mate goes easy on the Black Cats.
Appearances, goals, honours, longevity, kudos. Giggs has them all. We'll ignore his lack of repartee duringinterviews. The man is, after all, paid to play football, not crack gags.
The numbers themselves are mind-boggling. More than 800 games, 150-plus goals, 11 league titles, twoChampions League bictories, in excess of 60 caps and one of the few players to have appeared in each of the Premier League's 18 seasons. At 35 he remains as fit as a fiddle, plays more like a 25-year-old, and shows little sign of settling for the pipe and slippers in the near future.
And all of this while representing Manchester United, his sole employer, arguably the most high profile club in the world, which brings pressures those who have never pulled on the red shirt cannot begin to imagine.
Of course, football isn't just about facts and figures, and there will always be room for reasoned argument. But it's difficult to see past Bruce's assertion. If, for nothing else, Giggs' simply quite amazing longevity in a league renowned for chewing up and spitting out so many wannabees in the blink of an eye.
He's been playing for so long, the Conservatives were still in power when he launched his career.
Intriguingly, Bruce played a part, albeit unwittingly, in helping persuade Giggs to snub Manchester City and sign for United tw o decades ago.
Perhaps sensing his potential, Sir Alex Ferguson persuaded the raw teenager to come and train with the first-team squad in a bid to make enough of an impression on the callow youth to steer him away from Maine Road.
Bruce has revealed how he and his United team-mates were told to go easy on the youngster, don't rough him up, make him feel at home, one of the United family.
The big names, of course, thought nothing of their young guest. They had seen dozens like him come and go down the years.
That was until the newcomer let his feet do the talking and had soon tied in knots an unsuspecting Viv Anderson, then the England full back.
Even if he had wanted to make a point to the youngster, Bruce now admits he couldn't get near enough to kick some respect into the fleet-footed young upstart, who, feeling suitably at home with the array of household names in his midst, opted to stay. For the rest of his career.
City's loss has clearly been United's gain. Ryan Giggs, the Premier League's greatest-ever? Yes, that's about right.
