Manchester United legend Gary Neville told former teammate Roy Keane about the one and only time that he actively “hunted down” one player for their football shirt.
Neville spent his entire club playing career at Old Trafford and enjoyed amazing success under Sir Alex Ferguson as one of the club’s famous ‘Class of ’92’ players.
The 48-year-old shared the pitch with several world-class players at United, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes, Eric Cantona and Wayne Rooney.
Neville, who later became United captain, had a trophy haul at Old Trafford that included eight Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues.
During his prolific career, the Sky Sports pundit played against the likes of France legend Zinedine Zidane, Brazil icon Ronaldinho and Chelsea hero Didier Drogba.
However, Neville’s desire to secure one player’s shirt didn’t come during his time with United, but it was rather during his time on international duty with England.
Neville reveals to Keane the one shirt he wanted
Neville was capped 85 times for England and represented the Three Lions during several major tournaments, including Euro 2004 and the 1998 World Cup.
The ex-United right-back ended his international career without any major silverware with England, with Neville later becoming an assistant manager for the Three Lions.
Speaking on The Overlap’s Stick to Football show, Neville shared with Jill Scott, Ian Wright and Keane some of the shirt swaps that he had done in his England career.
The ex-United skipper revealed to the trio that he only ever hunted down a shirt belonging to AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini, which he secured after an Italy match.
One player I ever hunted down. One player. [Paolo] Maldini,” Neville said.
“I went in after the Italy game, I went into the dressing room and said, ‘Can I swap with you?’ And he gave me his jersey.”
Keane’s stance on swapping shirts
Neville claimed Keane didn’t like United players swapping shirts after a Champions League match, with the Irishman saying that he didn’t like the “fuss” caused by it.
Keane admitted that he didn’t mind swapping shirts at international level, but the 52-year-old United legend wasn’t sold on the idea when playing for a club.
The Sky Sports pundit cleared up his stance on shirt-swapping and hilariously claimed he wouldn’t hold anything against Neville over his hunt for Maldini’s shirt.
“Yeah, basically, I’m not anti-[shirt-swapping]… Sometimes it’s good to swap,” Keane said.
“I always think you swap against the player you were up against. You know what I mean?
“Not chase… that’s the bit I would have been slightly annoyed but because it’s you and it’s Maldini, I’ll let it go.”
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