The former defender was covering Luton’s Premier League clash with West Ham alongside Jamie Carragher and Kelly Cates when he asked Jarrod Bowen – who was not named in Gareth Southgate’s England squad this week – about his holiday plans for the international break.
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Speaking live on Sky Sports, he then revealed why he questions players about their free time.
Neville said: “It’s a little bit weird but do you know something, I always think as a football player, the idea of going into an international break when you’ve lost, you carry it for two weeks sometimes.
“Winning before an international break really makes a big difference at the club.
“I always remember that going back to my United days, you’ll [turning to Carragher] remember it with Liverpool.
“So the idea now that they’ve got a few days off, they can enjoy the international break, they’ve had a great start to the season.
“I’m just asking where he was going Kelly, I’m just trying to be nice! Just relaxing the atmosphere a bit!”
Fans flocked to Twitter to react, with one person referencing Neville’s iconic “mini-retirement” anecdote.
Back in May, fans were left in stitches after discovering that the ex-United star calls holidays “mini-retirements”.
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Speaking on the the Diary of a CEO podcast, he said: “What you can have is a mini-retirement during the year, and that’s what I’ve tried to do.
“I don’t do it very well, so for instance this weekend I’m going to Spain on Friday until Monday morning.
“I call that a mini-retirement. It’s a weekend, it’s a mini-retirement.
“It’s where I can basically say for three days I’m there and I’m basically taking it, I don’t think about work.
“And I will, sometimes my best ideas come when I’m on these types of trips, but then in six weeks I’ll have another mini-retirement for five days or four days.”
West Ham went back to the top of the Premier League table following a 2-1 win over Luton.
Bowen opened the scoring before Kurt Zouma doubled the Hammers’ advantage.
Mads Juel Andersen then got a late goal for the hosts, but it wasn’t enough to salvage any points.