Roy Keane was left unsurprised by Nemanja Matic’s recent comments on two Manchester United players’ behaviour.
The Serbian, who left the Red Devils for Roma in 2022, provided insight into what it was like to be part of an internal disciplinary committee at Old Trafford in an attempt to get certain players’ antics in order.
He told YuPlanet: “At Chelsea, players acted professionally. They were punctual and were never late for training. But at United, it happened almost every day. Among the players who would always be late were Paul Pogba and Jadon Sancho, and a couple of other players. The rest of us who were always on time were angry so we decided to form a kind of an internal disciplinary committee with me serving as its president.
“I put a sheet of paper up on the wall where I documented the names of individuals arriving late. During one particular season, we collected around £75,000 in fines. We had planned to use the money to throw a party in London but we didn’t due to the Covid outbreak.”
His comments on Sancho will come as no surprise to the United faithful, who have already been made well aware of the winger’s tardiness, with it being deemed a persistent issue dating back to his Borussia Dortmund days.
While his expulsion from Erik ten Hag’s squad was ultimately due to his social media statement, in which he publicly contradicted his manager’s comments, there’s no doubt that his carelessness in punctuality would’ve also played a key role.
As for Pogba, he pulled the curtains on his United career for the second time in 2022 upon his contract expiration. He has since endured an injury-plagued return to Juventus and is now facing a four-year ban from football after testing positive for testosterone.
Keane reacts
When reflecting on Matic’s revelations in the recent Stick to Football podcast, Keane said: “I’m not surprised that they’ve been mentioned, it’s kind of well documented that these guys aren’t good professionals.”
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