Neville: Year on the sidelines

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Gary Neville admits that he may have to wait until next season before returning to the Manchester United first team.

The defender has not featured for the Red Devils for over a year and is aware that he will now face a battle to win back his place in the side.

He has spent the last few weeks building up his fitness for the reserves, but feels that he is still not quite ready to be thrown back into competitive action.

Even when he does regain full match sharpness, with United still chasing glory both at home and abroad, the England international realises that Sir Alex Ferguson may not want to gamble on breaking up a settled squad which has performed so impressively without their skipper.

Significance

"I've played three times for the reserves since the turn of the year and this is the longest run I've been on in terms of training and playing games," Neville told Manchester United Radio.

"It's going to take time to get back to full match fitness after being out for so long.

"I'm probably a little bit away from first-team sharpness but the only way I'll get that is by continuing to train with the first team.

"Hopefully I'll get a game somewhere but that could prove to be difficult with the significance of the matches we have over the next few weeks. I just have to hope and pray that I get my chance at some point.

"Usually when you're coming back from injury there's an opportunity to throw you back into the side, maybe in one of the cup competitions, but every game's so important now."