Ed Sheeran says watching Justin Timberlake made him want to quit music.

The 22-year-old singer has revealed he came to close to pulling the plug on his career early after seeing the 32-year-old star in action recently, because he doesn't ever think he'll be able to compare to the former N*SYNC hunk in 10 years time.

He told The Sun newspaper: ''Watching him made me want to quit. He's 32 and I'm 22. In ten years ... no I still can't ever be like him. He makes men look bad.''

The 'Give Me Love' hitmaker performed with music legend Sir Elton John at the Grammy Awards last month and after their collaboration he watched Justin make his live return, performing his tracks 'Suit and Tie' and 'Pusher Love Girl', and the flame-haired singer loved what he saw.

He wrote on Twitter: ''Just watched Justin Timberlake live, absolutely incredible, One of the best shows I've ever seen (sic).''

As well as Justin's performance, Ed also enjoyed his and Elton's collaboration at the ceremony in Los Angeles.

He tweeted: ''Met some pretty cool people tonight, bit mad to be sat at the front!

''Had so much fun playing my song with Sir Elton too, will not forget that (sic)!''