SHKODRAN MUSTAFI admits Gary Neville faced an almost impossible challenge to make it work as manager of Valencia.
Mustafi was at Valencia when Gary Neville took over as manager in December 2015.
The following five months would become a testing period for Neville and his first foray into management alongside his stint as England assistant manager to Roy Hodgson.
Neville picked up just 14 points in his last 16 games in charge to leave them six points above relegation at the time of being sacked.
And Valencia haven't exactly improved this campaign who are hovering over the relegation places after 14 matches.
Arsenal defender Mustafi admits that Neville was always going to find it tough at a club like Valencia and hopes the Sky Sports pundit one day returns to management.
"I respected him as a player — he was fantastic,' Mustafi told the Daily Mail.
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"As a coach I think he had the right ideas but at that time in Valencia it was difficult for every coach, not just Gary Neville.
"I tried to talk as much as possible with him because he was a great defender. I wanted to learn from him but he was in a learning process, too.
"He wasn't used to Spanish football. It was a situation where I was trying to learn from him and he was trying to learn from us.
"I don't know if he will go back to coaching but if he wants he can because he has the character to be a leader."