Gary Lineker reveals the one thing he envies about modern footballers and it isn't their wages

Gary Lineker has revealed the one thing he envies most about modern footballers.

While a younger contingent of supporters will primarily associate Lineker with Match of the Day and general BBC sporting coverage, the 63-year-old was among the best footballers in the world.

Having come through the ranks at his beloved Leicester, Lineker went on to play for Everton, Barcelona and Tottenham before seeing out his career in Japan with Nagoya Grampus.

The forward also scored some 48 goals for England, winning the Golden Boot in the 1986 World Cup.

Despite enjoying the glamour of top level football for over a decade, Lineker claimed there is one thing he particularly envies from the current generation - the pitches.

While speaking about Manchester United’s 4-2 win over Newport County on podcast The Rest is Football, Lineker said: “You can knock it around on all the surfaces now.

“It is so rare that you go to a ground where the actual playing surface is not up to scratch.

“It’s the one thing - I’ve said this many times before - it’s the one thing I look at in the modern game with absolute envy. No, not necessarily the money, but playing on those surfaces week in week out.

Lineker won the golden boot at the 1986 World Cup (Getty)

“How do you miss? How do you miss when a ball is rolled across?”

Alan Shearer added: “It was a bit of a leveller 30 or 40 years ago wasn’t it? You were literally up to your ankles in mud and everything. And that was on big grounds.

“God knows what it was like when you went to the so-called smaller clubs, or lower league clubs. The pitch yesterday was no problem at all, and Manchester United, you could actually see walking there they thought, ‘This is not so bad after all’.

“I though their attitude was great.”