At first reading it sounds like a fairly odd thing for Sir Bobby to say, when you consider that Bridges last scored a senior goal in May 2000.
But if you remember the player the forward was before his injuries perhaps the target isn’t so unrealistic, particularly when you look at who the competition is.
"Bridges is an artist. He's got good feet, good movement and he scores goals - he should really be up there with England's best strikers," Sir Bobby told the Sunday Sun.
"Alan Shearer is no longer an England player, and other than him you've got Wayne Rooney, Emile Heskey, Michael Owen, Alan Smith and Darius Vassell.
"Bridges is in that category - if he is in the first team and doing well. If he does that, he's in that group.
"At 25, he's a perfect age, his best years are to come. You don't start to know yourself as a player until you are 27-plus. Just ask Alan Shearer."
Of the players Sir Bobby lists Owen is obviously proven at international and Premiership level, while nobody would dispute Rooney’s talent, even if his scoring record at club level is disappointing.
Bridges though can boast a far better scoring record than either Smith or Vassell, and one that stands comparison with Emile Heskey’s, while James Beattie will never make an international footballer.
It’s obviously way too early for anyone to be tipping Bridges for a regular place the United team let alone the England team, but his loan signing could be one of the cleverest moves Sir Bobby has made.
Nobody disputes that Bridges has talent, but handing him a long-term contract would be a huge risk because of his injury record.
This way the club gets to assess his fitness for three months, which will enable them to have a far better idea of his future prospects than a two-day medical would, and hopefully he’ll be able to take some of the goalscoring burden away from Alan Shearer in the mean time.