Manchester United utility man Phil Neville has revealed he is driven by the fear he may one day have to leave Old Trafford.
The long-serving England full-back is hoping to earn a recall for Wednesday´s Carling Cup semi-final against Chelsea after being rested for Saturday´s Premiership win over Aston Villa.
Neville made only sporadic appearances in the early part of the season but is now back in the fray and prior to the visit of Villa had played seven games in 22 days.
He has now featured 21 times for the club this season and while that figure is only half what he hopes for overall, Neville insists he has never even thought about leaving.
" The thing that has kept me going ever since I got into the first team was the fear of one day having to leave," the 28-year-old told MUTV.
" Manchester United is all I know. Playing for them is all I ever wanted to do and I would definitely like to end my career here.
" I signed a five-year contract last season and I am not looking beyond that. Just the prospect of having to walk into another dressing room is quite daunting."
Neville admitted there have been times when he has knocked on manager Sir Alex Ferguson´s door for a chat about his future. But there have never been any tantrums and the player´s concerns have always been eased by confirmation that he is an essential part of the Scot´s plans.
" I have been to see the manager two or three times over the last 10 years but I have never spoken to him about leaving," he said.
" The first thing he always says is that he wants me to play for Manchester United. After that the talk is always positive. He is the one man we always put our trust in."
Neville is hoping United can knock Chelsea out of their stride with victory at Old Trafford tomorrow.
The Premiership leaders are 11 points ahead of United in the title race but Neville insists United will not give up the chase.
He believes knocking Jose Mourinho´s side out of the Carling Cup could adversely affect their season in a similar way to how the win over Arsenal in October proved the start of a Highbury blip.
" We do not know how Chelsea will react to a defeat," Neville said.
" All we can do is give them an opportunity to find out. Arsenal had gone 49 games unbeaten in the league when we beat them in October but they had a wobble after that. Chelsea are 11 points clear of us and we need them to suffer the same kind of thing.
" We would rather be in their situation than having to chase as we are at the moment. We do not like the title not being in our own hands.
" But we still think it can be done, we just need someone to beat them and even though this is not a league game, if we win you don´t know how they will come out of it. It is only when you start losing games that the pressure starts to tell."
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