Michael Keane

[Acole9]

£4 million does seem like a reasonable price. I hope we put a sell on clause plus a buy back clause into the deal like the one we have on Shawcross.

 

[Loublaze]

We keep McNair and Blackett and let Keane go - insane! He is a better defender than those 2 will ever be

Both of them are better than Keane. Im sure a lot of tears will be shed tonight. I've never been impressed by Keane. He'll make a good PL level defender at a team like Burnley.

 

[Loublaze]

You don't think LVG is keeping a close eye on how our loanees are getting on?

If anything, going on loan and avoiding the cluster-feck that is our defence this season will have been better for his reputation than staying put!

Apparently not in this case.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Apparently not in this case.

Of course it's the case.

Apparently he's not as good as people on here think.

EDIT: assuming he's off.

 

[Loublaze]

Of course it's the case.

Apparently he's not as good as people on here think.

Apparently not. At least LVG doesn't think so. I kept saying that his failure to impress LVG in preseason was the reason he was loaned out to begin with.

 

[Roboc7]

Decent price and good move for everyone involved, LVG and Woodward are trying to get the club back to the top quickly and a player like Keane is going to have two many players ahead of him after next couple of transfer windows, same will also apply to McNair and Blackett in the end.

Good luck to him and no doubt he will carve out a good career in the premier league but like most of the players we loaned out on the summer I think LVG was looking to move him on no matter how he performed.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Apparently not. At least LVG doesn't think so. I kept saying that his failure to impress LVG in preseason was the reason he was loaned out to begin with.

That's certainly possible. Although I'm sure Van Gaal is a good enough manager to know that judging any young footballer entirely on the basis of 2 or 3 games would be stupid. I'm also sure any decision to loan or sell is based on a much more detailed assessment of Keane's strengths, weaknesses and long term potential from our coaching staff than anyone on here is privy to.

Every time a young player is sold you get varying numbers of people on here losing their shit and telling everyone it's a grave error. In the fullness of time the club is always proved right though. Would struggle to think of a single example where they got it wrong. At a stretch, Shawcross, but he wouldn't be the player he is now without those years of first team football he wouldn't have got at Unuted.

I even did it myself with Welbeck and wouldn't be surprised at all if I'm made to look silly in the fullness of time.

 

[Loublaze]

That's certainly possible. Although I'm sure Van Gaal is a good enough manager to know that judging any young footballer entirely on the basis of 2 or 3 games would be stupid. I'm also sure any decision to loan or sell is based on a much more detailed assessment of Keane's strengths, weaknesses and long term potential from our coaching staff than anyone on here is privy to.

Every time a young player is sold you get varying numbers of people on here losing their shit and telling everyone it's a grave error. In the fullness of time the club is always proved right though. Would struggle to think of a single example where they got it wrong. At a stretch, Shawcross, but he wouldn't be the player he is now without those years of first team football he wouldn't have got at Unuted.

I even did it myself with Welbeck and wouldn't be surprised at all if I'm made to look silly in the fullness of time.

I have to agree. Richardson (the new Giggs), Bardsley (the new Gary Neville), McShane, Campbell, Ebanks-Blake, Simpson, Eagles and a host of others who many thought would be great have turned out to be basic lower level PL to top level championship players.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I have to agree. Richardson (the new Giggs), Bardsley (the new Gary Neville), McShane, Campbell, Ebanks-Blake, Simpson, Eagles and a host of others who many thought would be great have turned out to be basic lower level PL to top level championship players.

Yup. More recently you've got Morrison, Fabio and the two noggie lads.

It's incredibly hard to make accurate predictions about the future potential of young footballers but it's a safe bet that the people earning big money doing it are going to get it right a hell of a lot more often than anyone on here.

It seems to be some kind of badge of honour for modern football fans to make definitive statements about how good young players will or won't become. An opinion they'll cling to even after it's obvious that the experts who actually train these players would disagree. I find it kind of strange.

EDIT: Before anyone says anything my ranting about Welbeck probably does make me a bit of a hypocrite but at least I've watched him in dozens of first team games over a period of several years.

 

[pascell]

Heard nothing but good reviews off Burnley fans about his performances since he's stepped in. Sadly, I think the same case will apply to Lingard, Will Keane, Blackett, Henriquez and Reece James and they'll be shipped out in the summer due to too much competition. We can ill afford to wait for youngsters to come good, in the position we're in. £4 million is a good price, just hope the same doesn't happen to Januzaj if he goes out on loan.

 

[Brightonian]

Heard nothing but good reviews off Burnley fans about his performances since he's stepped in. Sadly, I think the same case will apply to Lingard, Will Keane, Blackett, Henriquez and Reece James and they'll be shipped out in the summer due to too much competition. We can ill afford to wait for youngsters to come good, in the position we're in. £4 million is a good price, just hope the same doesn't happen to Januzaj if he goes out on loan.

Shouldn't think so. You've mentioned some good prospects but Januzaj is in a different category. I'm happy to see that LVG's sense of that category isn't dissimilar to the caf's youth forum either, with chances for Wilson and an obvious interest in Pereira as well. I just hope next season we see signs that Pearson (and maybe Rothwell) are in his mind too.

 

[pascell]

Shouldn't think so. You've mentioned some good prospects but Januzaj is in a different category. I'm happy to see that LVG's sense of that category isn't dissimilar to the caf's youth forum either, with chances for Wilson and an obvious interest in Pereira as well. I just hope next season we see signs that Pearson (and maybe Rothwell) are in his mind too.

After Januzaj's lack of game time it isn't looking great for Pereira, Pearson and Rothwell. Especially when he wants to sign Strootman and we'll need another CM imo. I think it was a travesty not seeing Januzaj against Yeovil, if he doesn't have a run out against Cambridge then we'll have to loan him out.

 

[Joemo]

@pascell I'd be surprised if any of those you listed made it here, Januzaj aside. I agree, we really need to see him more, I don't think he's playing partly due to his poor performances which are due to his lack of appearances. It's a vicious circle, and one that will result in an unhappy exception talent if we're not careful.

I think a lot of the play that LVG wants to see is played by our youth team. Some of the interchange between Rothwell, Pearson and Herrera was a joy to watch when Herrera was regaining match fitness.

I think that if we steer clear of injuries, we may see a few of the youth midfielders in a diamond with Carrick/Blind holding and playing alongside Herrera with Rooney as #10. It'd have a great balance of experience, youth/new players are the club and work rate.

 

[Brightonian]

After Januzaj's lack of game time it isn't looking great for Pereira, Pearson and Rothwell. Especially when he wants to sign Strootman and we'll need another CM imo. I think it was a travesty not seeing Januzaj against Yeovil, if he doesn't have a run out against Cambridge then we'll have to loan him out.

But it wasn't a travesty, because £60m superstar Di Maria was really his direct competition, and LVG wanted to play a near-full-strength lineup to make sure we didn't slip up and turn our run of draws into something more sinister.

This is my problem with the caf and youngsters really. People talk about how much they want us to bring youngsters through but are too focussed on the short term to actually get behind what that means. Januzaj had a great debut season but if he has a quieter one this year or has to go on loan to get more game-time it doesn't necessarily mean there's no space for him here, or that he's not going to make it, or not good enough. He's very young, and things change constantly in football. If he's good enough, which he is, he'll really turn up in a couple of games when we need him, or he'll get a loan spell and really shine and force his way into contention again.

Look how long we've given to players like Anderson or Cleverley, or how many chances Nani has been given in the past after shite seasons. One quiet season thanks to increased competition isn't going to make or break Januzaj's future with us.

 

[pascell]

@pascell I'd be surprised if any of those you listed made it here, Januzaj aside. I agree, we really need to see him more, I don't think he's playing partly due to his poor performances which are due to his lack of appearances. It's a vicious circle, and one that will result in an unhappy exception talent if we're not careful.

I think a lot of the play that LVG wants to see is played by our youth team. Some of the interchange between Rothwell, Pearson and Herrera was a joy to watch when Herrera was regaining match fitness.

I think that if we steer clear of injuries, we may see a few of the youth midfielders in a diamond with Carrick/Blind holding and playing alongside Herrera with Rooney as #10. It'd have a great balance of experience, youth/new players are the club and work rate.

I thought Blackett had a chance but looks very raw at CB and his positioning is questionable. I think we'll loan Blackett out for a season next season and see how he does.
I've thought the same about Januzaj, playing him as a wing back was an awful decision by the manager.
There's nothing more pleasing to see than youngsters make it here at United, I think next season we'll see a few more in cup games etc.

But it wasn't a travesty, because £60m superstar Di Maria was really his direct competition, and LVG wanted to play a near-full-strength lineup to make sure we didn't slip up and turn our run of draws into something more sinister.

This is my problem with the caf and youngsters really. People talk about how much they want us to bring youngsters through but are too focussed on the short term to actually get behind what that means. Januzaj had a great debut season but if he has a quieter one this year or has to go on loan to get more game-time it doesn't necessarily mean there's no space for him here, or that he's not going to make it, or not good enough. He's very young, and things change constantly in football. If he's good enough, which he is, he'll really turn up in a couple of games when we need him, or he'll get a loan spell and really shine and force his way into contention again.

Look how long we've given to players like Anderson or Cleverley, or how many chances Nani has been given in the past after shite seasons. One quiet season thanks to increased competition isn't going to make or break Januzaj's future with us.

I think if the injuries to Rafael and Shaw didn't happen, we'd have given Januzaj a run out. The problem is atm he doesn't fit LvG system, we can't play him as a wing back because that just doesn't work. I'm not saying there's space for him, I'm a massive fan of Januzaj and I believe he'll go on to be a top, top player but he has to adapt to our new system if he wants game time. I think he'll definitely feature more next season if we reach the CL with the clutter of games we'll have.
I don't think LvG would have given those players the same amount of time as SAF did, just look how quick he was to ship them out. If our CB's don't pull up their socks and put in some solid performances, I think he'll give the chop to at least 2 of them in the summer, the same will apply to Falcao and Fellaini. We simply cannot have any passengers in the squad next season.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Apparently not. At least LVG doesn't think so. I kept saying that his failure to impress LVG in preseason was the reason he was loaned out to begin with.

I don't think LVG ever that anticipated injuries would force him to promote McNair into the first team. As for Blackett, he's left-footed which is why he was ahead of Keane in the pecking order.

 

[Loublaze]

I don't think LVG ever that anticipated injuries would force him to promote McNair into the first team. As for Blackett, he's left-footed which is why he was ahead of Keane in the pecking order.

Ahead nevertheless. I wasn't sure sending him on loan was a very good idea...I mean he needed it, but we also knew we'd struggle with injuries at the back.

 

[iBoss]

If Blackett was right footed he wouldn't have got a kick this season.

 

[MTR]

If Blackett was right footed he wouldn't have got a kick this season.

Maybe he would ahead of McNair against WHU? At that time most of us thought that Thorpe is ahead of McNair, so why not Blackett?

 

[Loublaze]

If Blackett was right footed he wouldn't have got a kick this season.

Lucky for him he's not and he's marching on in the first team while others are being sold.

 

[khoazany]

That's certainly possible. Although I'm sure Van Gaal is a good enough manager to know that judging any young footballer entirely on the basis of 2 or 3 games would be stupid. I'm also sure any decision to loan or sell is based on a much more detailed assessment of Keane's strengths, weaknesses and long term potential from our coaching staff than anyone on here is privy to.

Every time a young player is sold you get varying numbers of people on here losing their shit and telling everyone it's a grave error. In the fullness of time the club is always proved right though. Would struggle to think of a single example where they got it wrong. At a stretch, Shawcross, but he wouldn't be the player he is now without those years of first team football he wouldn't have got at Unuted.

I even did it myself with Welbeck and wouldn't be surprised at all if I'm made to look silly in the fullness of time.

Rossi.

Daily Mail said the deal hasn't concluded yet so I think Goal tried to get ahead of the real situation.Either way he's as good as gone by the look of it.

I don't think Keane is the new Pogba but there will be a lot of debate on caf about us selling him in the next few years.I'm confident he will be at least a better player than Blackett.

 

[The Mitcher]

Rossi.

Daily Mail said the deal hasn't concluded yet so I think Goal tried to get ahead of the real situation.Either way he's as good as gone by the look of it.

I don't think Keane is the new Pogba but there will be a lot of debate on caf about us selling him in the next few years.I'm confident he will be at least a better player than Blackett.

Rossi has been hampered by injuries, he hasn't exactly become the player he could have become though.

 

[Ole'sbodyguard]

Rossi has been hampered by injuries, he hasn't exactly become the player he could have become though.

Plus he was sold the summer we brought in Tevez. Rossi would never have got enough games to develop with Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo, Saha around, let alone when we signed Berbatov a year later as well.

It's the same with Pique who had a prime Rio/Vidic ahead of him and squad players like Wes and John O'Shea ahead of him. He was never going to get the games to develop with Rio/Vidic in his way.

 

[The Mitcher]

Plus he was sold the summer we brought in Tevez. Rossi would never have got enough games to develop with Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo, Saha around, let alone when we signed Berbatov a year later as well.

It's the same with Pique who had a prime Rio/Vidic ahead of him and squad players like Wes and John O'Shea ahead of him. He was never going to get the games to develop with Rio/Vidic in his way.

Yep, plus Pique didn't turn out world class even though he has become a very good player.

 

[ThaReaper01]

Nooooooo. I'm honestly broken up about this. Really rated him.

 

[Sweet Square]

Was pretty certain him was going to make it here(Based on his loan performances) but his time in the first team was awful, looked very nervous and times struggle to do the basics. Maybe that sealed his faith.

 

[Eric'sCollar]

Good luck to him. Seems like he has enough about him to do well for himself but never got the feeling that he would be a United regular in the future. So good on him if he feels the same way and wants to start his career sooner.

 

[mazhar13]

I was hoping he wouldn't be sold as he showed quite a bit of defensive promise, but I guess he just isn't cut out for the top level. I'm sure he can form a decent Premier League career and hopefully develop into a good, notable central defender. I remember back in the Academy days when people didn't think Michael would make unlike his brother. Now, the tables have turned, and Michael looks like he can forge a very good career for himself.

It's somewhat of a shame because I thought he could make himself a useful player for us in the team though I don't know if he could ever become a regular here.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Plus he was sold the summer we brought in Tevez. Rossi would never have got enough games to develop with Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo, Saha around, let alone when we signed Berbatov a year later as well.

It's the same with Pique who had a prime Rio/Vidic ahead of him and squad players like Wes and John O'Shea ahead of him. He was never going to get the games to develop with Rio/Vidic in his way.

Plus there are loads of examples of players that look great on the continent but struggle to match that career, far from home, in PL football. Out of all the dozens of very talented young footballers we've let go over the years if Rossi and Pique are the only examples of decisions we may have got wrong I'm not gonna lose any sleep over Michael Keane.

 

[coolredwine]

Really gutted that the Keane brothers won't make it here. Was really hopeful of them a couple of seasons back.

 

[iBoss]

Lucky for him he's not and he's marching on in the first team while others are being sold.

Won't last.

 

[Rozay]

Probably won't regret the sale, but he's easily better than McNair for me, who I think has been overhyped thus far. His twin brother needs to go too, no chance here.

 

[JB7]

United have now confirmed that a fee has been agreed with Burnley.

 

[MJJ]

Plus there are loads of examples of players that look great on the continent but struggle to match that career, far from home, in PL football. Out of all the dozens of very talented young footballers we've let go over the years if Rossi and Pique are the only examples of decisions we may have got wrong I'm not gonna lose any sleep over Michael Keane.

Pogba? Or is he not included since he chose to leave.

 

[Raw]

Good luck to him, don't think he was ever going to get a good chance at United.

 

[Mark_GrumpyLion]

Wish him all the best at Burnley, hope he has a great career there.

 

[stu_1992]

I'm actually surprised at this. I thought the loan would get extended and he'd be given a chance next season before a decision like this would be taken. Good luck to him.

 

[united_99]

Good luck to him! He is at a age where he needs to play regularly to improve. If he turns out to be real quality we could always try to get him back!

 

[thejtrain]

We are the ultimate twin killers, aren't we?

 

[Crackers]

Good luck to him. He wasn't getting enough game time here, and needs regular game time to improve. Quick business and some money into our warchest.