Former Orlando Pirates coach Ruud Krol has heaped praise on Andile Jali and Oupa Manyisa, claiming they formed one of the best partnerships he's seen.

Krol added Jali to his squad in July 2009, which coincided with Manyisa's emergence from the academy, and the pair ended up combining famously in midfield to help the Buccaneers in their double-treble-winning campaigns.

"We had a strong midfield, I saw Jali (for the first time) playing against Ajax in a cup match and then I never knew that Pirates had already signed the small winger on the left (Aubrey Ngoma)," Krol told KickOff.

"I saw Jali in this midfield, it was the first match I watched in South Africa that wasn't involving Pirates. So, I told Pirates directly they must sign this midfield player because I loved him.

"And after (signing him) of course in my mind, he was a very good player - we also had the one from Zambia (Isaac Chansa) and the other one who played behind the striker.

"I would rate the Jali, Manyisa combination in my top five, they were very very good together."

- TEAMtalk media