Gary Neville reveals which five Manchester United players have most impressed him so far this season

Gary Neville has picked out the five Manchester United to have most impressed him following an excellent start to the new season by Jose Mourinho's side.

Antonio Valencia, Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic and Romelu Lukaku have all caught the eye of the former full-back, who made 602 appearances for United during his 19-year stay at Old Trafford.

Each has helped United take four wins from five games in the opening weeks but Neville believes that David de Gea is still the most prized asset in Mourinho’s squad, hailing the goalkeeper as “world class”.

“[De Gea] is the best player in the club by a long way, he really is. They've got some great players but he stands out now as being incredible,” he said, speaking at the launch of UA92, the Class of 92’s proposed university to be based in Trafford.

“Antonio Valencia deserves a special mention for the way he's adapted over the last two or three years to becoming a right-back, and not just a right-back, an outstanding right-back.”

Neville was also impressed by Pogba’s good start to the new campaign before it was curtailed by a hamstring injury.

Pogba had his critics during his first year back at Old Trafford following his world record-breaking £89m move from Juventus last summer, but Neville believes that the midfielder has shown why he is a pivotal player for United.

“I'm a bit sad that the partnership between Pogba and Matic has been broken,” he said. “That was developing into something quite good.

“Pogba is a fantastic player, he deserves a special mention for the fact that you talk about leadership, characteristics, personality to play for United, always accepting the ball in difficult situations.

“If he makes a mistake, he still wants it again and he's willing to make another mistake. That to me epitomises a United player. He's been fantastic at the start of this season, after a challenging first year.”

Neville also reserved praise for Lukaku, who has hit the ground running following his £75m switch from Everton this summer and scored seven goals in his first seven appearances for United, the latest coming against his former club.

“Lukaku's settled straight in, scored the goals that United missed last year,” Neville said. “15 draws last year was too many, 10 at home, but Everton's a case in point on Sunday.

“He set up the second, scored the third and took the game away from Everton at the point that it looked like they could get a goal to equalise.”