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The Manchester City great took a distinctly unusual route to becoming a professional footballer at the very highest level.

Making it as a professional footballer means using every possible advantage you can find – and being skilled in another sport can often make a major difference.

Peter Schmeichel has credited his famous starfish-style spread to his background in handball. Petr Cech has said that playing as a goalkeeper in ice hockey helped prepare him for football. Didier Drogba has pointed to the intelligence and footwork he developed through basketball. Ruud van Nistelrooy and Zlatan Ibrahimovic both gained balance and body control from taekwondo.

For Georgi Kinkladze, that extra edge came from dance.

To be more precise, it was the traditional style of Georgian folk dancing, which for men can be highly explosive, extremely quick and full of spins along with sharp, intricate footwork.

That description happens to match exactly how Manchester City supporters would remember Kinkladze’s displays out wide at Maine Road during the 1990s.

Kinkladze is still regarded as an icon in the blue half of Manchester because of his brilliant goals and because he stayed with the club for two more seasons even after their relegation from the Premier League in his first season in 1995/96.

When asked whether the dance classes he took as a child influenced the way he played, Kinkladze told FourFourTwo: “Yes, I believe that they did.

“Traditional Georgian dance is very physical. With this kind of dance, you are on your toes, moving with high energy and with perfect balance.

“Taking dance lessons gave me the core strength to change direction instantly while keeping my upper body still.

“People said I looked like I was gliding when I played; that was thanks to the dance training”

Kinkladze is also thankful that he got the chance to play international football for Georgia while he was still only a teenager, as he believes that put him on the radar of clubs such as Boca Juniors and Manchester City before his later move to Ajax.

He said: “Back then, the Georgian league wasn't scouted heavily.

“Playing for the national team was my chance to show that I could perform on the big stage. Without those international caps, I might never have left Georgia and moved abroad.”