Gary Neville says Jack Wilshere is his favourite player to coach

Neville thinks coaching Wilshere is a challenge

In a rather surprising revelation, newly appointed Valencia boss Gary Neville has named Jack Wilshere as the player he has enjoyed coaching the most. Neville has not given up his job as England’s assistant coach even after taking the managerial job at the Mestalla, and will stay with the Three Lions till the 2016 UEFA European Championship.

The 40-year old was talking at a charity event for ‘Football Beyond Borders’, which is a foundation aimed solely at helping children from troubled backgrounds through the game of Football. He was interviewed by 13-year-old Rashad, who is a presenter for the charity.

The ex-Manchester United player has been Roy Hodgson’s number 2 for the past three and half years, during which he had a chance to coach the Arsenal midfielder. When asked about who his favourite player was to coach, Neville stressed on the fact that he enjoys coaching Wilshere because “he's a challenge”.

“I've only ever been a coach with England over the last three-and-a-half years, and I've enjoyed coaching a lot of the players,” he told the young interviewer.

“If I had to pick one I'd pick Jack Wilshere, because he's a challenge.”

The disclosure might come as a surprise for some of the football fans (especially Gooners) as, during the majority of 19 years he spent at Old Trafford, Arsenal were the biggest rivals of Manchester United, and the intensity of the rivalry was there for everyone to see.

The interview was taken six days before the news of Neville joining Valencia broke out and when quizzed about his next managerial move, the legendary fullback kept a poker face, not revealing anything about joining Los Che in the future.

“That's a difficult one,” Gary said.

“You never know your next move in coaching because you don’t know what job is going to come up next and you don’t know who’ll offer it to you.

“You don’t know where you’ll be in six months, you don’t know if it’ll go well or bad. That’s the thing about coaching, it’s so up and down, I don’t think any coach can tell where they’re going to be in twelve months and be sure.”

The elder of the Neville brothers was recently announced as Valencia’s head coach after Nuno Espirito Santo stepped down from the job after a loss to rivals Sevilla. The 40-year old has a contract until the end of the season.

Phil Neville was made the interim coach at the Spanish club but after the appointment of his brother, he was made to step down from the post, but he continues to be a part of Valencia’s coaching unit.

Here is the full video of 13-year old Rashad interviewing Gary Neville.

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Edited by Staff Editor