Gary Neville comments on Ander Herrera leaving miss the point

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Gary Neville came out swinging in a recent Sky Sports interview backing Manchester United’s decision to let Ander Herrera leave.

His argument was that Herrera was easily replaceable and was not worth the extra wages he was demanding.

He told Sky Sports [quoted via MEN] “Herrera, to be fair, huffed and puffed, but there’s loads of him around.

“There’s loads of Ander Herreras around. He’s nothing special, honestly. There’s loads of him around.”

Herrera left United when his contract expired to take a pay day at Paris Saint-Germain. His decision, we move on.

But what is galling, and the point Neville misses, is that United did not replace him. If it was that easy, why didn’t we?

Earlier this summer, we drew up a potential shortlist of five possible replacements for Herrera.

Adrien Rabiot, Saul Niguez, Tanguy Ndombele, Youri Tielemans or Donny van de Beek, three of who went on to clinch moves elsewhere.

Any one of them would have improved United’s options. Herrera certainly was replaceable. But United didn’t act.

Neville’s U-turn

Neville admitted as much that United needed to sign a replacement for Herrera.

In quite a stark difference from his latest comments, he told Sky Sports in May (via MEN): “They’ll need to strengthen in midfield just to replace what’s there.

“I think it’s a loss Ander Herrera leaving.”

Perhaps Neville has just changed his mind, and considers Andreas Pereira a fine replacement for Ander Herrera, that United shouldn’t need to buy.

And maybe Andreas is capable of being Herrera, and more.

But it just seems remarkable that United took this decision, and went through the summer without adding a midfielder.

This could become a tired argument, but we desperately hope it does not come back to bite us, and against logic, United’s gamble turns out for the best.

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