Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville admits he urged the club to sign Manchester City fullback Joao Cancelo when with Valencia.

Cancelo was the man-of-the-match in Manchester City's 2-0 derby victory over United on Saturday, with the 27-year-old playing an important role in both of the Premier League champions' goals at Old Trafford.

Neville managed Cancelo at Spanish club Valencia when the Sky Sports pundit spent nearly four months as head coach of the LaLiga side until March 2016.

"I love him as a lad," Neville told his Sky Sports podcast when asked about Cancelo after Saturday's derby. "I loved him when he was out there. There was a vulnerability about him as he was so young.

"He's so hard on himself, in training he used to be his (own) critic. If he made a mistake, he'd throw his arms on the ground and start cursing himself and I used to say to him "give yourself a break".

"I had him as a very young player at Valencia but you could just see exceptional talent. I made calls back to England, you could imagine which club I'm talking about, saying 'if you'd ever take a young player, he's one you'd take'.

"Him and Andre Gomes I felt were exceptional talents that could come and grace the Premier League."