STEVE Bruce will be relieved to have his only recognised right-back returning to the Sunderland squad for tomorrow’s game at Old Trafford, as he feels Manchester United left winger Ryan Giggs is “the greatest player ever to play in the Premier League”.

While centre-half John Mensah will miss the trip to Manchester with a calf injury sustained in training, Phil Bardsley is available again after missing last weekend’s 5- 2 win over Wolves with a virus.

Bardsley’s experience could be crucial if he finds himself lining up against the evergreen Giggs, a player who shows no sign of slowing as he prepares to celebrate his 36th birthday at the end of next month.

The winger scored his 150th Manchester United goal during Wednesday night’s 2-1 win over Wolfsburg, and having played alongside him for the best part of five seasons, Bruce is in doubt as to where he stands in the pantheon of Premier League greats.

“He started in 1993 and where are we now, 2009?

Jesus,” said the Sunderland boss, who was captain of Manchester United when Giggs helped Sir Alex Ferguson’s side break their 26-year title duck in 1993.

“To play at the level he has been, he has to be the greatest ever player to have played in the Premier League, not just because of his longevity but because he is playing for Manchester United and still getting man of the match awards. For me he is still their best player.

“He is blessed with that wonderful ability which gets people off their backsides.

He’s such a natural dribbler, it’s just effortless for him. It is easy for him. He’s just a great, great player.

“That word is used too often but he has to be up there. If there was a poll of the greatest Premier League players, I would think Ryan would be right up at the top.”

Bruce can still remember the day he was first introduced to a teenage Giggs at Manchester United’s training ground.

The youngster was choosing whether to join United or their Manchester rivals, City, and Ferguson asked the club’s senior players to go easy on him when he was invited to join in a training session with the first-team squad.

“That was my first memory of him,” said Bruce. “Fergie was nicking him from Man City and he was saying, ‘We have this young kid coming over so just be careful with him today because he is going to train with the first team’.

He was obviously wanting him to sign.

“He joined in, and we thought ‘Oh well, we’re going to have to let him join in with us.’ But he took the mickey out of Viv Anderson straight away. Viv was an England fullback, but he dribbled round him three times and we were saying, ‘Who is this?’ “That was my first memory of him and I just went ‘Wow’.

I have never seen any other player where, even as a 14- year-old, you just knew straight away he was going to be a superstar.

“Running, dribbling, it was just effortless for him. He would glide. He was as quick with the ball as he was without it, and he got past me very, very easily.”

Tomorrow’s game represents Bruce’s first return to Old Trafford as manager of Sunderland, but he has enjoyed some tight encounters with the current Premier League leaders in his former role as manager of Wigan.

The Latics lost 1-0 in the red half of Manchester last season, and dominated much of the game after falling behind to a first-minute goal from Wayne Rooney.

Bruce is hoping for a similarly spirited performance tomorrow, and is confident Sunderland are capable of springing a surprise despite not having won at Old Trafford since 1968.

“Manchester United might be the best, but they still get beat every now and then,” he said. “It doesn’t happen very often, but they do lose sometimes.

“I always enjoy going back, although I’ve never won there.

I can’t remember getting much, but it’s always nice to go back, and some of the same old faces are still there.

“Nothing much changes. I still enjoy going back, even though the result doesn’t go for me very often. It would be nice to change that trend.

Maybe this is the time to do it.”