MANCHESTER UNITED legend Gary Neville once revealed that no club EVER enquired about signing him – and said he would never have left Old Trafford anyway.
The Red Devils icon, 46, revealed his head was never once turned during his time in the red half of Manchester.
While Neville claimed he never wanted to quit Old Trafford, travelling to the US for Inter Miami’s first-ever home game – with ex-team-mate David Beckham the team owner – opened his eyes to what he missed out on as a player.
Nev made the incredible revelations during a chat with Geoff Shreeves on Sky Sports’ Off Script podcast.
When asked by Shreeves if any other club came knocking for him during his playing days, Neville replied: “None that I’ve ever been made aware and none that I’ve known of.
“I imagine that Sir Alex in his post-Manchester United career or in his interviews when I left the club would have said that someone would have come in for me or something like that.
“It would have come out. So no, I’m unaware of any interest that’s ever been shown in me.”
I imagine that Sir Alex in his post-Manchester United career or in his interviews when I left the club would have said that someone would have come in for me or something like that
Gary Neville
Neville went on to say that, even if another team had made a move for him, he wouldn’t have accepted.
The ex-England defender said: “Never for one second did I ever take the blinkers off.
“I could never understand, for instance just before David Beckham left I knew a months before that there was probably something brewing.
“I couldn’t get my head around it at the time – with me being so Manchester United – how any player that was at the club would ever think to want to leave.
“I just couldn’t compute it at all. For myself it never once entered my head.
“My contract negotiations, the longest was probably three meetings, when Peter Kenyon was the CEO.
“They were normally done inside one or two meetings. They were always long contracts.”
ANY REGRETS?
But that’s not to say Neville thinks he was necessarily right to be a one-club man.
His trip to the US in 2020 to watch Beckham’s MLS side, Inter Miami, play their first home game made Neville realise what he may have missed out on.
Nev continued: “I remember thinking that what I thought in my mid-20s, when David left, I couldn’t understand it.
“But then when I saw the furore around his first game in Miami.
“He’s played at Real Madrid, he’s played at AC Milan, he’s played at Paris Saint-Germain, he’s played in LA, he’s now got a club in Miami…
“The experiences that he’s had in his life are just out of this world, and obviously if he’d stayed at Manchester United he would never have experienced them.
“So is he richer in his experience for the bold decision that he made? He definitely is.”
