Neville suggests end of Man United career is near

Published Mar. 1, 2010 3:25 p.m. ET

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Manchester United captain Gary Neville has indicated that his career with the English champions could be over at the end of the season, almost 18 years after making his first-team debut.

The 35-year-old Neville's contract expires in June and he is yet to be offered a new deal.

Asked about extending his career into next season, Neville responded: "I don't know ... I'm not even thinking about it."

Injuries have restricted the defender's playing time in recent seasons, although he featured for around 25 minutes on Sunday as United beat Aston Villa 2-1 to retain the League Cup.

"I'm at the age that I just want to stay fit and concentrate on the last few months of the season," Neville said. "I've got to decide what I want to do and speak to the manager (Alex Ferguson)."

Neville rose through the United ranks in the early 1990s as part of a group of young players nicknamed "Fergie's Fledglings," who also included David Beckham and Ryan Giggs.

But he has fallen behind Wes Brown and Rafael da Silva in the right-back pecking order.

"The manager's got other options now - I've started in the last two games before Sunday and I came on for around 20 minutes then," Neville said. "So it's been a good week in that sense, taking part in three matches. I feel better now.

"The difference now is that when I play games I get fitter, but when I get injured it takes me a month to get back into the swing of things and you saw that against Leeds (in January's FA Cup loss)."

Neville has won eight Premier League titles, the Champions League twice and three FA Cups.

He is also England's most capped right back, having made the last of 85 appearances three years ago.

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