Neville gets McClaren nod

Phil Neville has been hailed as a model professional by England coach Steve McClaren ahead of his first competitive match for his country in more than two years.

The Everton player is set to operate at right-back in place of his injured brother, Gary, in the Euro 2008 qualifier against Andorra at Old Trafford.

"Phil Neville is a fantastic professional and that was epitomised in the summer when he was on holiday with his family and was asked to break off from that and come and join the England squad as a stand-by player," McClaren said. "He had no hesitation in doing that and he deserves his place in the current squad and, with injuries, I've no hesitation in putting him in the team."

He added: "Phil is a fantastic servant and has got great flexibility. He can play right-back, left-back, in midfield, but that key word we keep talking about and we keep preaching to the players is professionalism. He epitomises that."

Left-back Ashley Cole will go into the Andorra game as a Chelsea player after his move from Arsenal was finally completed.

But McClaren insisted midfielder Owen Hargreaves was in the right frame of mind after failing to secure his move from Bayern Munich to Manchester United.

McClaren said: "Owen has not been down.

"I've seen no-one going around this week as if they've got the weight of the world on their shoulders, waiting for this or that move to develop."