Neville says Southgate’s move to United ‘can’t happen’ due to two reasons

Football pundit Gary Neville has claimed that Gareth Southgate cannot move to Manchester United. 

Manager Erik ten Hag is under pressure at the moment, with United set to miss out on European football next season. 

They have dropped to eighth in the Premier League standings following the shambolic 4-0 loss at Crystal Palace on Monday. 

The England manager is one of the favourites to replace Ten Hag at Old Trafford. However, Neville doesn’t see the move happening for two reasons. 

Speaking on Stick to Football podcast, Neville said: “I’ve come to the conclusion Southgate [to Man Utd] can’t happen.

“There’s no way Man Utd can wait until July, mid-July when pre-season has already started. They’ll look like they don’t know what they’re doing.

“And there’s no way Gareth can announce before a major tournament that he’s going to Man Utd. It would create absolute (chaos), he won’t do that.

“Honestly, you know Gareth, I know Gareth, there’s no way in a week we’re going to see an announcement of Southgate’s leaving England after the tournament to go to Man Utd.

“That would create absolute turbulence in the England squad for a month. He’s not going to do that to the FA or to the England players and create that huge distraction.

“You’re going to have a nightmare scenario. In my opinion, that’s not happening. It could, but I don’t think that’s happening. 

“I think the likelihood of them naming him in July after the tournament – it’ll become pretty obvious then that Man Utd are waiting for Southgate to finish which will become equally as bad.

“I can’t see that happening for those reasons.”

Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter have also been mentioned as potential candidates to become Manchester United’s new manager.

Tuchel’s Bayern Munich side recently lost the Champions League semi-final to Real Madrid.  

He had already announced his decision to step down from his role at the end of the season. 

Potter has been out of a job since being sacked by Chelsea in April last year. 

He recently turned down the opportunity to manage Ajax and is reportedly in the running for the United job.