Man Utd ignored Neville’s advice on £60m Cancelo

Forum 2 years ago

Man Utd ignored Neville’s advice on £60m Cancelo

The ex-Red Devils defender has revealed that he urged those at Old Trafford to snap up the versatile Portuguese when working with him at Valencia.

Gary Neville has revealed that Manchester United ignored his advice to sign Joao Cancelo, with a lack of movement on the transfer front at Old Trafford allowing Manchester City to eventually snap the Portuguese star up for £60 million ($81m).

The versatile operator caught Neville’s eye during a brief stint in charge of La Liga side Valencia in 2015-16, with his potential clear for all to see.

United were urged to make a move, but Cancelo ended up joining Italian giants Juventus in 2018 before moving to City a year later – where he has become a key part of Pep Guardiola’s plans.

Neville told his podcast for Sky Sports on why Cancelo would have been a shrewd addition for the Red Devils: “I had him as a very young player at Valencia but you could just see exceptional talent.

“I made calls back to England, you could imagine to which club I’m talking about, [saying], ‘if you’d ever take a young player, he’s one you’d take’.

“Him and Andre Gomes, I felt, were exceptional talents that could come and grace the Premier League. Andre has had bad injuries which stopped him.

“But I think the education Joao Cancelo had in Italy would have been a good one for him. I think Italy toughens you up from a defensive perspective being at Juventus.

“When City paid £60m for him the only doubt I had was the fact did City need to spend £60m on a full-back again because they already had players in those positions. Not any doubt whatsoever about what this player was.

“He’s an athletic machine. He’s a brilliant runner, he’s a beautiful runner with the ball, he’s a tough kid as well. He’s strong, he’s brave in his defending, he affects the game in defence and attack. He’s delivering on what I thought he would in terms of you see players sometimes not realising their potential, he is realising his potential. I couldn’t be happier for him as a person.”