Gary Neville admits he was ‘completely wrong’ about £100m Man United target

The England international burst onto the scene with West Ham as an 18-year-old but there were initial doubts over his position, with Rice largely playing in midfield but being tipped to play in central defence.

Despite his talent, Neville had doubts over Rice and was unsure if he had the credentials to make the step-up in the Premier League.

Rice is now being linked with a £100m move to Manchester United and Neville admits that, having interviewed the midfielder, he was ‘completely wrong’ about him.

‘Thought of the Week: ‘Don’t go too early’, Neville wrote on LinkedIn.

‘This is something that I often say to myself in punditry. You form a view on something either in haste or we always tell ourselves sayings like ‘trust your first instincts’, ‘I knew I didn’t like them after five minutes’.

‘However I interviewed Declan Rice this week for the overlap and I judged him as a young player at West Ham

‘I have to say I got it completely wrong. What an outstanding young person.

‘Authoritative, confident, humble and quite simply the most impressive young footballer I’ve interviewed in 11 years.

‘He’s also a fantastic talent and I went too early.’

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