Phil Neville reveals “he was never a fan” of Barthez, despite being team-mates at Old Trafford.

Phil Neville has openly revealed that he wasn’t a fan of Fabian Barthez when playing alongside each other at Manchester United.

The former United full-back spent four years with Barthez at Old Trafford, though Barthez was loaned to Marseille for the fourth, after Sir Alex Ferguson splashed £7.5million on the goalkeeper in 2000 following a recommendation from Eric Cantona.

There were big gloves to fill after Peter Schmeichel’s departure in 1999 but there were high hopes for Barthez, who arrived on the back of lifting the 1998 World Cup and EURO 2000 with France.

After a positive first season in between the sticks, the stopper endured a 2001/02 campaign to forget as numerous mistakes led to Arsenal snatching the Premier League title.

Speaking to DAZN, quoted by Metro, Neville was unreservedly honest when outing Barthez as a team-mate he never really rated too highly:

“I was never a fan of Fabien Barthez. He obviously won a World Cup, he had a brilliant left foot but I was never a fan. He let goals in so easily. He had a great temperament, he was brave but he just let too many [goals] in.”

Barthez was part of the United squad for three seasons – spending his fourth on loan at Marseille – and joined the French club permanently at the end of the loans in 2004, as Tim Howard took his place as United no. 1.