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.”
