Manchester United legend Roy Keane admits he regrets not leaving when two European giants came knocking on the door for his signature.
Nowadays Keane is a well-respected pundit on Sky Sports and is great value because he is never frightened to say what exactly what he thinks, which was the case for much of his career. The proof is in his soured relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson.
Keane’s time at Old Trafford came to an end after a fallout with the great manager, eventually departing in 2005 for Celtic after 12 years at the club.
However, Keane had plenty of opportunities to leave United before then, including offers from Bayern Munich and Juventus.
Speaking to Sky Bet’s The Overlap, Gary Neville asked his old teammate about how close he was to leaving for Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.
“Yeah, very close, yeah,” replied Keane. “Wish I bloody had! I wish I’d gone abroad, yeah.”
“I wish I bloody had” 🗣️
It's hard to picture Roy Keane playing for Bayern Munich or Juventus but it could have happened at one time! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Aum2cTtTvq
— The Overlap (@WeAreTheOverlap) October 6, 2023
Arsenal legend Ian Wright asked about Juventus’ interest and Keane said: “I agreed a deal yeah, obviously my contract was up a couple of times when I did my cruciate and then came back and I had opportunities to go on a free.
“And a part of me is jealous when I see other lads now going abroad because it’s a great experience for a family and maybe, but again, I was really happy at United and content.
“If I knew how it was going to end and look back now with loyalty and all that type of talk with Ferguson, I probably should’ve definitely gone abroad and experienced a different league.”
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