Gary Neville is well known by now for some of his more outlandish takes as a pundit, particularly when it involves Liverpool.
The 49-year-old had a legendary playing career.
A one-club man, Neville made a total of 602 appearances for United across all competitions. During his time with the club, he was part of one of the most successful periods in its history.
Neville won an impressive 20 major trophies with Manchester United, including an astounding eight Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues.
it’s safe to say that his career as a pundit has followed much in the same way, even if it feels like he intentional offers some bizarre opinions to rub people up the wrong way.
At the beginning of last season, he made boisterous claims that Jurgen Klopp would rather have had Manchester United’s midfield than Liverpool’s then revamped one.
The Reds managed to finish four places above Erik Ten Hag’s men last campaign, with United’s midfield suffering the most with the likes of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen having disappointing seasons while Mason Mount was a non-factor.
It is not the first time that Neville has been wrong about Liverpool, and it certainly won’t be the last.
And it seems that he may have a knack for wanting to be proved wrong with his claims about Liverpool recently.
What did Gary Neville say about Liverpool and their 2024/25 season?
It will no doubt be an interesting season for everyone connected to Liverpool FC.
While Arne Slot will likely not get a ‘free hit’ season, he should be afforded time at Anfield even if Liverpool fall out of the top four.
However, Gary Neville has claimed that he could see Liverpool fall out of the top six all together in this upcoming campaign.
“Not sure. My surprise is Liverpool won’t finish in the top six,” Neville replied when asked on Liverpool’s season fortunes on the Stick to Football podcast.
“Is there a risk with what Klopp got out of that group last season, is there a risk that Liverpool just purely because of what happened with other clubs where managers of that ilk, is there a risk they could tank?”
The Sky Sports pundit also addressed the high-profile failure to attract Martin Zubimendi, saying:
“It won’t have helped the changing room losing out on that player. I don’t think. The older players will be thinking ‘what’s going on here?’.
“It will unnerve you when you miss out on a player you think you’re going to get.”
When asked if Liverpool would finish outside the top four, former United teammate Roy Keane agreed, responding, “Yes, I think so, unless they get a couple of signings in the next few weeks.”
The good news is that this kind of talk from Neville and Keane is nothing new, so we should take it with a pinch of salt.
The bad news is that unless Liverpool makes a few signings, it would be hard to see Arne Slot maintain a third-place finish, never mind improve on it.
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