Gary Neville sorry for savage Liverpool and Chelsea feedback ‘I want I hadn’t mentioned’
Manchester United legend Gary Neville has confessed some of his biggest regrets as a Sky Sports pundit while speaking on the Stick to Football podcast
Gary Neville has apologised to David Luiz and Loris Karius for slamming them in public.
The pundit insists he regrets comments he made about the duo – and believes he went well over the top. Neville once described former Brazil and Chelsea defender Luiz as playing like “he is being controlled by a 10-year-old on a PlayStation”.
He also described Chelsea as a bunch of “billion-pound bottle jobs” after their Carabao Cup final defeat in February to a weakened Liverpool team, who ended the game with four academy players on the pitch.
While the former England and Manchester United defender also put down ex-Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius, insisting Jurgen Klopp‘s side would never win the title with him in goal.
Neville believes he went too far and he told the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet: “I wish I had not said the David Luiz line, about him being a ‘PlayStation player’.
“I wish I had not said ‘billion-pound bottle jobs’. They’re harsh lines that stain a group of players or a manager. David Luiz has never got rid of that. It’s a cheap shot really. It’s that line of humour meets cheap shot.
“[Loris] Karius, the Liverpool goalkeeper, the young lad, I’d been quite direct about him for a period of two to three months. Liverpool were getting better under Jurgen Klopp, and I remember saying that they’ll never ever win the league with that guy in the net.
“It’s a strong line for a young goalkeeper. It was probably true five months later back in the Champions League final. One time I went to Italy and went to a hotel.
“I walked into the gym for a session and there was just this big bloke lifting massive weights – it was Karius! He could have done many things there and could have had a go at me.
“It went right through my head on what I said about him, and I know he would’ve known that. But he said, ‘nice to see you’ and I felt guilty bumping into someone I’d given a harsh line to.”
