Gary Neville Reveals The Five Clubs He Would Have Played For If Manchester United Had Sold Him

Gary Neville is a Manchester United man through and through.

He spent his entire professional career at Old Trafford, making 602 appearances for the club before hanging up his boots in 2011.

Neville won 16 major trophies under the guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson, including eight Premier League titles and the Champions League twice.

While he never came close to leaving the Red Devils for another club, Neville revealed there are five teams he would have considered joining had United wanted to sell him.

Speaking on the Sky Sports Off Script podcast last year, Neville said: "For myself, leaving never once entered my head.

“My longest contract negotiation was three meetings; they were normally done inside one or two meetings, and they were always long contracts.

"I’d made the decision quite early in my 30s that if Sir Alex had come and told me my time was up, I wouldn’t have played for anyone else. I was fortunate in that sense.

Neville spent his entire professional career at Manchester United (Image: PA)

"However, if he’d come to me at say the age of 28, and told me my time was up, of course I would have played for another Premier League club.

"Who would I have played for? You can rule out three: I’d have never have played for [Manchester] City, Liverpool or Leeds. Not in a million years.

"I don’t feel anything bad towards the players who did that, but me personally, I couldn’t have done it. The rivalry is just too much.

Neville retired in 2011 having made 602 appearances for United (Image: PA)

"If you’d said to me, in a perfect world, in my years of playing, which clubs in the Premier League have the tradition, a proper club? Arsenal would be No 1.

"The tradition of Highbury, I felt they did things the right way. Also in the Premier League, I like Aston Villa and Newcastle.

"In Europe I admired Juventus and Bayern Munich. I respected them as football clubs. Bayern were meticulous in their preparation, so internationally, it would be them."

Neville would finish his playing days as a one-club man in 2011 before moving into a coaching career.

He was appointed assistant manager to former England boss Roy Hodgson in 2012 before an ill-fated spell in charge of Valencia.

He was sacked by the Spanish club in 2016 after just four months in charge and since then he has focused his efforts on his punditry work with Sky Sports and his various business projects, including the joint-ownership of League Two club Salford City.