Gary Neville is set to be offered a new two-year contract to stay on as Valencia manager, casting doubts over his future as England’s assistant manager, according to the Daily Mirror.
Neville is slowly turning around results at the Spanish top-flight outfit. Valencia have won their last four games in all competitions, as Los Che made it through to the Europa League last 16 on Thursday, after beating Austrian side, Rapid Vienna.
Following the straightforward win in Europe, the former Manchester United defender, and Sky Sports pundit said:Â “I think the professionalism and the attitude and the mentality is something that I was most happy with tonight. “The performance was very good, but I think when you come into a game like this, the main question I asked the players today at lunchtime was about their professionalism, their mentality and their attitude towards the match.
“I said we had two jobs – one was to complete the tie, but I also wanted momentum to keep going and I wanted a good performance. Thankfully tonight we got both. After the game, my words to them were – well done, eat and drink now!
“The big thing of today [was] to keep the momentum going. Four wins is good for us, but you recognise we have a big week – we have Bilbao, Malaga and Atletico Madrid – so it’s a big week for us but the confidence going into this week is good. All the players are playing, all the players are fresh, you’ve seen the players tonight play very, very well and in good form.”
The recent chain of results have strengthened his relationship with the club’s owner, Peter Lim, who is also involved at boardroom level with Salford City.
Neville was appointed as manager last December, as a replacement for Nuno and initially struggled in his role, alongside brother Phil, who was already at Valencia as a first-team coach.
Neville has continued his role in the England set-up, and will travel to the European Championships in France this summer, as assistant to Roy Hodgson. However, his long-term future with the Three Lions remains uncertain, should he extend his stay at the Mestalla.
He will be hoping to continue the positive run of form, when Valencia host Athletic Bilbao at home on Sunday evening.
