Keane twins hoping to follow Nevilles

Widnes

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William Keane featured for Manchester United U18 in their 1-0 win at Barnsley.

William and twin brother Michael both signed scholarship forms with United over the summer.

Following in the footsteps of the Neville brothers, Gary and Phil, the duo are avid United fans and have three-year contacts by the end of which they hope to have moved off the Old Trafford terraces and onto the pitch.

Michael is a defender, while William plays as an attacking midfielder and said: "It would have made it difficult if one had made it and the other had not. There’s nothing I’d rather do than be a professional footballer. I would love to be able to win the Premiership. When you train it’s great to see the United players like Rooney on the next pitch, they are all so good.

"Our parents were delighted as we got offered our new contracts just before our birthday, so we had a double celebration that weekend."

Keane twins hope to follow Neville brothers into Man Utd first team | Premiership News | tribalfootball.com

Don't know much about most of the acadamy lads but trying to keep more upto date and maybe getting MUTV, what do people who have seen them think of these two lads? can they make it? nothing better than lads coming through the acadamy who have always supported the club.
 
Michael Keane has hardly featured at Academy level, and had limited time in the Milk Cup so it's unfair for me to assess him on that evidence.

Will Keane looks very promising, he plays off the front man and is very creative and adroit on the ball. He plays in a similar way to a Sheringham/Berbatov type. Him and Cofie look quite a good combination at Academy level.
 
PS18 said:
Don't forget the Browns.

Matt James' little brother is an u13 or u14 as well if I remember rightly, might have another sibling in a few years.
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We also have the two Evans brothers.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
So we can conclude that they are not so much "following in the footsteps of the Neville brothers" as following in the footsteps of a load of other brothers who've joined the club since Neville Neville's lads.
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There have always been brothers at United from the Stiles', Marshalls', Mitten's, Greenhoff's, Buchan's, Ferguson's et al.


Since the Neville's we have also had:

Stephen and Michael Rose

Dominic and Mark Studley

Adam and Richard Eckersley

to name a few.
 
Raven_Blade said:
Thats good. I dont know much about him but he keeps making headlines with the youngsters. The contract shows his rate of progress and I will definitely watch out for him now.
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Although it's always pointless to compare players, William Keane's game is like a mixture between a Teddy Sheringham type player and Ole Solskjaer. It really is remarkable how similar his movements and body shape are to Ole's. You could even compare his finishing, because it is equally as clever and emphatic (think about the way that Ole used to strike the ball powerfully at the goalkeepers legs with either foot, knowing that it is the one place where it is almost impossible to save the ball).

But he is also very much a player who can drop off in between the lines and create from there.
 
TWIN brothers Michael and William Keane from Manchester United's youth academy could end up facing each other on the field of play if Ireland and England clash in the European youth championships later this year.

Ireland's U17 side travel on Monday to play host nation Greece, Finland and Austria in the Elite qualifying phase, the winners of that three-team group going on to the Euro finals in Liechtenstein in the summer.

U17 boss Sean McCaffrey announced his squad for the tournament earlier this week and he was pleased to have secured the capture of Manchester United defender Michael Keane, who was included in an Irish squad for the first time.

But two days earlier, the English FA announced their squad for their qualifying tournament at home to Sweden, Malta and Slovakia -- and included was Manchester United striker William Keane, Michael's twin brother, who scored again for United's reserves in the 2-2 draw with Manchester City last night.

If Ireland and England both qualify from their groups, history would be made if the Keane twins ended up playing against each other at the Euro finals.

They both qualify for Ireland as their dad, Michael senior, was born in Dublin but the boys, who turned 17 in January, have followed different paths at international level.

"It's great to have Michael on board with us. We knew for a long time that he was eligible but we didn't think he would declare and come to play for us," said Ireland U17 boss Sean McCaffrey.

"It would be strange for brothers, especially twins, to play for different counties. Of course, we would love to have William on board with the Irish team as well but, for now, there is no chance of that. He has already played for England and he's made it clear that he wants to stick with the English team," McCaffrey added.

The boys are making progress through the United academy, and defender Michael is a regular in the U18 team, but William, a striker with a stunning scoring record at schoolboy level, is already being tipped to make it all the way at Old Trafford.

He made his debut for the United reserves last October when he was just 16, and on Monday he scored the only goal of the game as United's reserves beat Stockport 1-0.

Brothers playing international football for different countries is not new: Archie Goodall won 10 caps for a pre-partition Ireland while his brother John played for England.

More recently, ex-Chelsea man John Hollins played for England (1967) while his brother Dave was capped by Wales. Christian Vieiri hit the heights with Italy while his kid brother Max won caps for Australia.

Irish football also saw confusion over fraternal relations in the '90s over the Gallen family, brothers Kevin, Steve and Joe.

Pressure

With parents from Donegal and Mayo, the London-born kids were all eligible to play for Ireland. Joe (later to play in the League of Ireland with Dundalk and Drogheda) and Steve played for Ireland, winning youth and U21 caps, but Kevin was lost to the English cause, partly due to pressure on him from his club QPR to stick with England due to the four-foreigner rule in place at the time.

So in March 1995 Kevin, who had Irish parents and whose brothers wore the green shirt, played alongside Nicky Butt for England -- and against Shay Given and Stephen Carr -- as they beat Ireland 2-0 in an U21 European Championship qualifier in Dalymount Park.

McCaffrey said there was no question of the FAI pursuing William in a bid to persuade him to go green like his twin. "I am very glad that we have Michael with us, and, from all reports I have seen and heard, William is a very special player," he said.

"But he has been in the England set-up for some time and he wants to play for England so there's not a lot we can do. Who knows what will happen down the road and in the future? But for now we will work with Michael. He's technically very good and he's getting a good education at United."
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Nice article on the twins.
 
Sounds from McCaffrey's comments that Will will only play for Ireland if he doesn't seem to be getting anywhere with England.
 
vanthaman said:
would be great if we could field a whole team full of sets of brothers
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--------Evra-------

Evra----Evra----Evra----Evra

Evra----Evra-----Evra---Evra-

----Evra---Evra----

This is plausible

Bizarrely, Evra also claims he has 24 brothers and sisters.

He declared: "They are not from the same mother, I assure you! My father, he didn't watch the television... . ."
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Didn't even know Will Keane had a brother, let alone a twin who plays for United. From what I have seen of WK, he is quite promising. And if his current rate of scoring continues I can see him get in to the first team in couple of seasons.
 
Not sure I like this "one twin plays for England, one for Ireland" thing. I'm thinking the only sensible thing to do here would be to cut them both in half.
 
Capello keeping tabs on Man Utd whizkid Keane

Capello keeping tabs on Man Utd whizkid Keane | Premiership News | tribalfootball.com

England coach Fabio Capello is keeping tabs on Manchester United's U17 international Will Keane.

Keane, from Stockport, has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the last 12 months that has seen him break into the reserve team at Old Trafford just a year after leaving St Bede’s College to join United's academy.

Capello personally requested a DVD of England's opening game at the UEFA Under-17 Championships to watch during World Cup preparations at their training base in Irdning, Austria, which featured Keane.

Head of football at St Bede’s College, Steve Fallon, told the Manchester Evening News: “Will has had a fantastic year at United and everyone at the college is delighted to see him making such excellent progress.

“I have been tracking his progress and I have seen him score some stunning goals.

“As a lifelong United fan I cannot wait to see him in the first team.”

Proud dad Aidan said: “We are absolutely thrilled that Will won the Young Player of the Year award.

“He was nominated alongside two other second year academy players so to win the award at such a young age was a major achievement.”
 
So Capello is not actually keeping tabs on him more than any other player in that U-17 squad.
 
United youngster Keane for success - Manchester Evening News

United youngster Keane for success
June 07, 2010

Will Keane is only 12 months into his professional football career – but he’s already caught the attention of top managers Sir Alex Ferguson and Fabio Capello.

The 17-year-old striker left St Bede’s College last summer to begin a two-year apprenticeship with Manchester United.

A year later, and the Reds’ young player of the year award and an Under-17 European Championship winner’s medal are safely locked away in Keane’s trophy cabinet.

It’s not a bad start to a blossoming football career.

“My first year couldn’t have gone much better,” said Stockport-born Keane.

“We won the Milk Cup and the reserve play-off final with United and the European Championships with England.

“On a personal level I won the young player award as well which was great.

“I thought I was in with a chance but all the other players who were nominated had great seasons as well so it was still a bit of a surprise.

“It doesn’t really sink in until you look at the other names on the trophy like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Wes Brown.”

And lifting the Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year award – named after the man credited with unearthing the Busby Babes – isn’t the only way Keane has followed in famous footsteps this season.

When England came from behind to beat Spain 2-1 in the Under-17 European Championship final in Liechtenstein on May 31, it earned the three lions their first title for 17 years.

That triumph – at the Under-18 European Championships in 1993 – featured Scholes, Gary Neville and Nicky Butt, and Keane is determined that his career will continue to follow a similar path.

“It is the first youth trophy England have won for a while and that was something we spoke about before the game,” said Keane.

“The players who won that trophy have gone on and had great careers so hopefully we can do the same.

Rooney inspiration

“Before the game we got good luck messages from Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard and it really inspired the players. It was nice that they took the time to wish us luck and you almost want to win the game for the them.

“We even had the entire Spain first team watching the game.

“It was great to win it against some of the best teams in the world,” he added.

“We beat France and Spain who produce some very good players so to beat those teams and win the trophy was a great achievement. Spain and France had some great players and they were both tough matches.”

So impressive were England’s performances that Fabio Capello requested DVDs of the games to watch during his World Cup preparations.

Sir Alex Ferguson is also keeping a close eye on his young star and Keane is confident his fledging career is in safe hands at the club he joined as an 11-year-old.

“Sir Alex came over to say well done at the player of the year awards which was nice,” said Keane, whose twin brother Michael is also on United’s books.

“We see quite a lot of him around the training ground and he always stops to say hello and ask how we are doing. It’s one of the reasons United is such a great to club to learn at.

“The first-team players are always nice too,” he added.

“It’s the best place to learn because, as a centre forward, you get to learn from the likes of Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov.

“They’re some of the best players in the world and it can only help being around them and watching what they do.”

Keane is hoping to get a closer look at his senior United colleagues next season by getting the chance to line up alongside them. He says he’s got the perfect blueprint to follow in Italian centre forward Federico Macheda, who made a timely impact as the Reds chased their third straight title in 2009.

“I’m hoping to progress next year and get a regular place in the reserve team and maybe even get a call into the first-team squad,” added Keane.
 
Jdownloader works quite well. Just have it running and then copy the above link and it should recognize it
 
His 1st away to Liverpool (academy), away to Stockport (MSC) and home to Everton (academy) are probably my three favourite Keane goals.
 
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