Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Phil Neville spent the 2015-16 season as a coach at Valencia

Former Manchester United and England full-back Phil Neville is a contender to take over as England women's boss.

Mo Marley has been in temporary charge since Mark Sampson was sacked following evidence of "inappropriate behaviour" in a previous role in September.

But Neville, who has previously coached with Manchester United, Valencia and England Under-21s, would represent a surprise appointment.

England are ranked third in the world, with the 2019 World Cup due in France.

The Football Association (FA) had planned to appoint a new head coach by the end of 2017, however several potential appointments dropped out of the running.

Emma Hayes said she wanted to remain as Chelsea boss while former Arsenal coach Laura Harvey and Canada manager John Herdman moved to new roles.

Rumours of 40-year-old Neville's interest have been circulating around the England camp, according to Chelsea defender Claire Rafferty.

Doing some research Phil?

Image copyright Phil Neville's Twitter Image caption Phil Neville's recent follows on Twitter have included several England players

Under Sampson, England reached the Euro 2017 semi-finals, eventually losing to winners the Netherlands, and they also finished third at the 2015 World Cup - their best finish at the tournament.

FA chief executive Martin Glenn said: "We absolutely want to get the right person. We have got great ambitions for the women's team.

"We believe we can win the World Cup so we have to get the right person with the right set of skills.

"We are lucky we have had a great interim in Mo Marley, so that has allowed us to spend that bit more time to make sure we are assessing all of the talent across the world."