"I don't think there's ever been a more influential football player in the Premier League. Full stop." Gary Neville has made his call — Roy Keane tops his all-time Premier League midfielders list, and he's not entertaining much argument about it.
The debate started on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football, where Jamie Carragher laid out his top 10. Gerrard at one, Keane at two, De Bruyne third. Vieira, Lampard, Kante, Scholes, Toure, Rodri, and Fabregas rounded it out. A decent list, but one Neville had serious problems with — starting with the man sitting at the top of it.
Neville's Top Five — and Why It Looks Nothing Like Carragher's
Neville went with a leaner top five on his podcast, and the ordering tells you everything about how differently the two see the game's history. His No. 5 is Carragher's No. 9 — Rodri. No argument there. The City man won the Ballon d'Or, anchored a treble-winning team, and was comfortably the best defensive midfielder on the planet before his knee gave out. "Miles ahead of anybody," Neville said. The only caveat: not enough Premier League years to climb higher.
Gerrard comes in at four. Neville's reasoning is cold-eyed — the Liverpool icon spent chunks of his career as a No. 10, on the right, floating between positions. A monumental player, yes. A pure central midfielder for his whole career? No.
Scholes is third. "The most beautiful football player who controlled every single game for us," Neville said — but again, same issue. Scholes spent years operating ahead of the midfield before eventually settling into the deep-lying role where he became genuinely unplayable in the final stretch of his career.
That leaves two spots for the players Neville considers untouchable. Vieira at two — a force of nature who could physically dominate opponents while covering ground nobody else could. And Keane at one, described not just as a great midfielder but as the most influential player the Premier League has ever produced. Goals, leadership, defensive work, passing range, sheer will. Neville's case is hard to pull apart.
His verdict on Carragher's list? "I'm not as biased as Jamie Carragher" — a dig at Gerrard sitting at the summit of a list compiled by a man who spent his entire career at Anfield. Fair point, arguably. Carragher leaving Keane at two while picking Gerrard at one is a choice that reveals something.
Spurs Look Like a Different Problem Entirely
The midfielder debate made the headlines, but Neville's comments on Tottenham carry more immediate weight for anyone with money on the relegation battle.
Spurs sit 18th, two points below West Ham, six behind Leeds after Daniel Farke's side ground out a 2-1 win at Old Trafford on Monday — Leeds' first Premier League victory at that ground. It was the kind of performance built on structure, pressing intensity, and a clear game plan. Neville watched it and immediately thought of what Spurs are not.
"That is a performance I don't think Tottenham are capable of — and that is the scary thing for Tottenham," he said. "You watch Spurs against Sunderland and it is a set of ingredients that don't go together, a concoction of misfits."
Roberto De Zerbi lost his first game in charge 1-0 at Sunderland. That would be bad enough on its own. But Spurs also lost Cristian Romero — their captain, their best defender — to what reports suggest could be a season-ending knee injury. He was pictured walking through London with a bandage around his right knee. De Zerbi called him "crucial for us." That's an understatement.
Brighton visit on Saturday. No Romero. A squad that Neville just described as a set of mismatched parts. Anyone looking at Spurs' survival odds right now should factor in that they're not just short of points — they appear to be short of a coherent identity. That's a much harder thing to fix in a transfer window.
