CONFIRMED: Gary Neville will be back on Sky Sports this season

Excellent news.

Sky Sports has confirmed that former Manchester United defender Gary Neville will return as an analyst and co-commentator for the 2016/17 season. Neville left Sky when he took the manager’s job at Valencia last season, a spell that ended disastrously when he was sacked after just 10 wins in 28 games in less than four months in charge. Neville also resigned as part of Roy Hodgson’s managerial team with England following their embarrassing exit from Euro 2016 earlier this summer. Reports linking Neville with a return to Sky Sports surfaced a number of months back and the news was confirmed on Sunday morning, with Neville set to join Thierry Henry, Jamie Carragher, Jamie Redknapp and Graeme Souness on the Sky Sports team. Monday Night Football fans may end up being slightly disappointed, however, as Sky say that he will join Jamie Carragher for “guest appearances” on the show. That would seem to suggest that he will appear on an occasional basis as opposed to being a firm fixture on the show with Carragher, as used to be the case. In a statement, Neville said that he was delighted to be back with Sky Sports, albeit in a “slightly different” role to his previous stint. "I am delighted to be rejoining Sky Sports and can't wait for the start of the new football season, especially as there will be a variety of new programming on the channel. "It is important for me that my role will be slightly different, and I am looking forward to the challenge of working on some new, creative and exciting projects." Even if it might not be the same as before, as arguably the best football pundit on TV, it’s good to have him back.