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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Gary Neville spoke about all things Manchester United on Sky Sports’ The Debate on Tuesday night, and his comments on Ander Herrera should put things into perspective for the Old Trafford faithful.
What’s the story?
United fans were not happy that their former Player of the Year left without a replacement this summer, as the Spaniard joined PSG after his contract expired.
Wage demands are reportedly the reason he did not stay in England, but that hasn’t stopped fans from being devastated by his exit.
Neville though, who was speaking about the departures from the club this summer, believes the 30 year-old will not be missed, telling Sky Sports, via Metro: “Have we lost them? I don’t feel like we’ve lost anything.
“Herrera to be fair huffed and puffed, but there’s loads of him around. There’s loads of Ander Herrera’s around. He’s nothing special, honestly. There’s loads of him around.”
Nothing special
There’s no questioning Herrera’s passion and tenacity was contagious, but Neville’s verdict is hard to disagree with.
Herrera averaged between two and three tackles in every league season at United, per Whoscored, but considering that was his main job in the team, it’s not overly impressive.
For comparison, Idrissa Gueye, the best of the best at breaking up play in midfield, made a ridiculous 4.3 tackles per game last season, and 32 year-old Joao Moutinho racked up 3 per game last term.
Watch Roy Keane let Jesse Lingard know what he thinks of him in the video below…
Even those who would be considered average players like Newcastle’s Isaac Hayden and Brighton’s Dale Stephens boasted 2.9 and 2.8 tackles per game respectively. Herrera came in at 23rd on the tackling list last term with 2.5
Quite simply, a player entering his thirties who isn’t even one of the elite in his role should not be demanding a huge new contract, and Neville is spot on that the club were right to simply allow him to leave.
For all his passion, the 30 year-old really is “nothing special”, and fans should not concern themselves too much over his departure.
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