English Premier League-Player Profile: Phillip Neville
Phil Neville was born in Bury, Greater Manchester and was a part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s class of 1994 Manchester United youth academy along with his older brother Gary Neville. He started his career off at United alongside his brother and made his first team debut during the 1994-1995 season, however he failed to get a lot of first team spots until the 1995-1996 English Premier League.
During his time at Old Trafford, Neville won an impressive array of championships which included, six English Premier League titles, three Football association Cups and one European Cup. However, he did not make regular appearances for United because his left back berth in the squad was occupied by the more experienced Dennis Irwin.
On the 4th of August, 2005 Philip Neville parted ways with his childhood club and joined Everton in the English Merseyside on a five year contract; his transfer fee amounted to around 3.5 million dollars. Neville made his first appearance for Everton in their UEFA Champions League qualifier against Villarreal, a Spanish football club. During the match he came up against his ex-team mate at Manchester United, Diego Forlan.
Phillip Neville made his Premier League debut for the club against his old team, Manchester United. This was the first time in Phillip’s career that he had come up against his brother Gary in a competitive football match. Neville is known to be a versatile player who can play anywhere in midfield as well as in the back four. These qualities helped him catch Everton manager David Moyes’s eye. The English international quickly became the club captain at his new club due to David Weir’s departure from Everton to the Scottish giants, Rangers.
On 29th of November 2006, Philip captained his Everton side in a Premier League match against Manchester United, who were being captained by his older brother Gary Neville. This moment was the first of its kind, in the English league as both the brothers captained the respective sides that played against each other. Phillip Neville finished the 2005-2006 season with more yellow and red cards to his name than any other Premier League player.
The energetic English midfielder scored his first goal for Everton during their 3-0 win against Newcastle United on 30th of December, 2006. He also scored two other goals for his new club during the 2006-2007 season against Bolton and Aston Villa.
During the 2008-2009 season, Neville scored a penalty for Everton against his former club Manchester United in a F.A Cup semi-final match between the two teams. Philip Neville has also featured regularly for the English National football team in the past.
He made his debut for England against China, when he was just 19 years old. He played with his brother Gary Neville in his debut match for the national side. He only saw a brief stint for the English national team as their left back in 2000 under Kevin Keegan but then struggled to sustain his place in the starting lineup due to the much preferred Ashley Cole.
He featured in English squads for tournaments such as Euro 1996, 2000 and 2004. Despite having 59 England caps, Phillip has never made it to a World Cup squad for his national team. Neville is now in the autumn of his career but he still plays regularly for Everton and captains them when he does so.
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