Arsenal eyeing £60m ace Gary Neville hints he wanted for Manchester United

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Arsenal have been heavily linked with Manchester City’s Joao Cancelo in recent weeks.

Back in March, journalist Steve Bates claimed the Gunners were potential suitors for the Portuguese.

Speculation has intensified massively since then as Arsenal look set to bolster their ranks at full-back.

Cancelo was a first-team star for City, but headed out on loan to Bayern Munich in January.

Despite being ‘one of the best full-backs in the world‘, the £60million man’s future at the Etihad is now uncertain.

According to the Evening Standard, City may be forced to sell Cancelo to Arsenal despite them being their title rivals.

If the Citizens want to make as much money as possible from a player sale, they pretty much have to sell to a Premier League outfit.

In terms of the Arsenal left flank, Kieran Tierney’s future is uncertain and he could well leave the Emirates.

Meanwhile, the Gunners are short of numbers on the right flank, with Cedric Soares out on loan and likely to be sold.

‘An absolutely wonderful player’

If Arsenal do manage to sign him, they’d be getting a player Gary Neville has described as “absolutely wonderful”.

The Sky Sports pundit coached Cancelo at Valencia several years ago.

In 2021, he told the Gary Neville podcast about what a talent he was whilst under his tutelage at the Mestalla.

Indeed, Neville even hinted that he contacted Manchester United saying he’d be a good signing.

This is going by the Old Trafford legend saying “you can imagine which club” he had spoken to about Cancelo.

“Absolutely loved him when he was out there,” said Neville of his time with Cancelo at Mestalla.

“I had him as a very young player at Valencia but you could just see exceptional talent.

“I made calls back to England – and you can imagine which club at the time – saying that if you are ever going to take a young player that is a young player you would take.

“He is an athletic machine, he is a brilliant runner, a beautiful runner with the ball and he is a tough kid as well.

“He’s strong, he is brave in his defending. He affects the game in defence and in attack, and he is delivering what I thought he would.

“He is a wonderful player, an absolutely wonderful player.”