Michael Keane| signed to Everton.

Do you want Michael Keane back at United?

  • Yes

    Votes: 259 43.0%

  • No

    Votes: 172 28.6%

  • Undecided

    Votes: 171 28.4%
  • Total voters
    602
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stevoc said:
I wish i was as content with our CB options, i feel we're a Smalling or Bailly injury away from trouble. After those two our pool of options is very, very shallow.

Blind - good player but not a centre back
Jones - Jones
Rojo - Awful
Mensah - Promising but inexperienced
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Of course but what would be the point of buying someone like Keane?
He's now a PL regular and been called up to the England squad, he's hardly going to come in case Smalling/Bailly get injured, we have 3 CB's with promising potential, Rojo & Jones who are happy to be backup/squad players & Blind is apparently the new messiah according to fans on here.
 
Might be an idea keeping an eye on this guy's progress, surely won't cost as much to buy him back as it did Pogba though...
 
vi1lain said:
Of course but what would be the point of buying someone like Keane?
He's now a PL regular and been called up to the England squad, he's hardly going to come in case Smalling/Bailly get injured, we have 3 CB's with promising potential, Rojo & Jones who are happy to be backup/squad players & Blind is apparently the new messiah according to fans on here.
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I never actually advocated signing Keane though. We could have 33 centre backs with promising potential doesn't mean any of them would be ready to step into the first team should one of the senior defenders get injured.

I'm sure Jones and Rojo are very happy picking up £60-80k per week but neither are reliable back ups. One is constantly injured and the other is shit. Blind is not a messiah for me, he's a great utility player who can fill in at CB but in a strong squad he would only be 5th-6th choice there.

What we need is 1 or 2 experienced players who are actual career defenders, have good injury records and are not shit as back up for Smalling and Bailly.
 
stevoc said:
I never actually advocated signing Keane though. We could have 33 centre backs with promising potential doesn't mean any of them would be ready to step into the first team should one of the senior defenders get injured.

I'm sure Jones and Rojo are very happy picking up £60-80k per week but neither are reliable back ups. One is constantly injured and the other is shit. Blind is not a messiah for me, he's a great utility player who can fill in at CB but in a strong squad he would only be 5th-6th choice there.

What we need is 1 or 2 experienced players who are actual career defenders, have good injury records and are not shit as back up for Smalling and Bailly.
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I'm not sure, I think we have great balance with Smalling about to be 27 which is the usual age for defenders to enter their peak and despite his previous injury record he's very experienced.
Bailly is 22 and looks to have a higher ceiling, and has adapted great, his injury record is good but his experience is largely limited at the highest level.
Blind despite not being a career defender like you said is a great utility player, and plays better in defence than Rojo or Jones, and again has a good injury record, and his experience playing defence has pretty much been this season & the last.

What experienced defenders will be happy to be back up/squad members behind players who are less experienced or aren't actual defenders? Plus they'll be on the similar contract to Jones & Rojo.

I do agree we need to ship those two out, but experienced defenders aren't likely the best solution given the amount of playing time they'll expect.
 
Rather give Tuanzebe a go TBH. If we get rid of Jones and Rojo though Keane as a back up wouldn't be a bad shout.
 
Keane is a great defender and good on the ball.. Us hanging on to Rojo and Jones just makes no sense.. He and his brother were highly regarded at the academy so that gives me hope that Ed might have had something put in his dealings with Burnley. But thats just me hope'n..
 
vi1lain said:
I'm not sure, I think we have great balance with Smalling about to be 27 which is the usual age for defenders to enter their peak and despite his previous injury record he's very experienced.
Bailly is 22 and looks to have a higher ceiling, and has adapted great, his injury record is good but his experience is largely limited at the highest level.
Blind despite not being a career defender like you said is a great utility player, and plays better in defence than Rojo or Jones, and again has a good injury record, and his experience playing defence has pretty much been this season & the last.

What experienced defenders will be happy to be back up/squad members behind players who are less experienced or aren't actual defenders? Plus they'll be on the similar contract to Jones & Rojo.

I do agree we need to ship those two out, but experienced defenders aren't likely the best solution given the amount of playing time they'll expect.
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Maybe i've been traumatized by our defensive injury crises over the last 5-6 years but our options after Smalling and Bailly don't exactly fill me with confidence. Blind had done great there, but the City match highlighted for me the fact that however intelligent and good he is on the ball he's not a centre back. In games where we have 70% possession he is fine, vs better and/or more aerial opposition he will suffer.

As for which defenders would be happy to be a back-up i don't necessarily look at it like that. We should bring in at least another defender as good as or better than Smalling and Bailly and have competition for places back there. At one point a few years back we had Ferdinand, Vidic, Smalling, O'shea, Brown and Evans. I'm not saying we need 6 senior defenders but we play lots of games and with injuries/suspensions/loss of form keeping 3-4 experienced defenders happy shouldn't be much of a problem.

Our biggest problem right now is Jones and Rojo, they need shifted to make room.
 
Really come on in fairness to the lad, makes the £2m fee we got for him look ridiculous.

How good would it be to have a local lad that was here since he was 16 back in the team. I don't think Rojo has long left with us myself, we could def do worse than keep an eye on young Michael again.
 
Think people sometimes forget how little football Bailly has played as he's started so well. His style of front foot defending is quite high risk but obviously great when it works.

I think we need to protect him a bit more as the mistakes will come, as happens to everyone while they're gaining experience. That's why I still think having more of a leader like Smalling alongside him rather than Blind is the way forward (José chasing Fonte might be a sign he agrees).

Think he's the most enjoyable defender to watch that we've had since Vida in his prime but he will give away a few bad penalties and get cards (the ref didn't see the one on Kolarov) and then he kind of got rag dolled by a striker that just looked too strong for him currently.

6eeq1c.jpg
 
Put it this way, he will never be himself today if we had kept him here as backup, 4th or 5th choice CB. This young guys need match time to grow. Shld he stay, he would just be another not-so-successful academy product, and ppl here will call for him to be sold to release the space for another shinier toy.
 
CS@SG said:
Put it this way, he will never be himself today if we had kept him here as backup, 4th or 5th choice CB. This young guys need match time to grow. Shld he stay, he would just be another not-so-successful academy product, and ppl here will call for him to be sold to release the space for another shinier toy.
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But that's the whole point of loaning players out isn't it? As soon as he started coming good we took a tiny transfer fee and moved him on permanently.
 
prath92 said:
I think he wanted to leave and try his luck elsewhere.
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Yep. From what I remember he commented on how good the club were to him letting him choose his club for a nominal fee as he took the difficult decision to leave and forge a career elsewhere rather than another loan.

It's that sort of decision by the club that earns us good will with future youngsters.
 
Cassidy said:
Don't blame him after LVG overlooked him for McNair and Blackett
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He was already out on loan by the time LVG had to call on them due to our defensive crisis.
 
Cassidy said:
Don't blame him after LVG overlooked him for McNair and Blackett
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I saw his games at Burnley that season and there wasn't much between McNair and Keane that season. McNair was good for us in 14/15.
 
Pexbo said:
He was already out on loan by the time LVG had to call on them due to our defensive crisis.
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Blackett played in the preseason tour and was promoted to train with the first team way before Keane went on loan. In fact I'm sure Blackett started the season in the starting lineup. Keane played vs MkDons before he went out on loan.
 
Pexbo said:
Yep. From what I remember he commented on how good the club were to him letting him choose his club for a nominal fee as he took the difficult decision to leave and forge a career elsewhere rather than another loan.

It's that sort of decision by the club that earns us good will with future youngsters.
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Yeah this is a reason why I think we let our players go cheaply. We don't stop their moves demanding a good fee and instead let them go at a small amount so that they have a career in a place they want to play.
 
prath92 said:
I saw his games at Burnley that season and there wasn't much between McNair and Keane that season. McNair was good for us in 14/15.
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Keane was overlooked, he was the one who was supposed to be next in line, more experienced than both, but then LVG had other ideas. Blackett and McNair, I'm not saying McNair didn't do a good job. I am saying I am not surprised Keane asked to leave after being overlooked.
 
Cassidy said:
Keane was overlooked, he was the one who was supposed to be next in line, more experienced than both, but then LVG had other ideas. Blackett and McNair, I'm not saying McNair didn't do a good job. I am saying I am not surprised Keane asked to leave after being overlooked.
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I think you could look at it as we thought it's better to have Blackett as a backup player who won't play much as against Keane who probably wouldn't have played as much as he did at Burnley.

Plus he did himself no favours in the MK Dons game and Blackett at least was fairly decent in the few games he started for us early in the season.
 
He admitted himself, he did not seize the chance vs MKDon.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...areers-ahead-Old-Trafford-return-Burnley.html

And, he knew what is going to happen after the loan:
'Once you start playing regularly in the Premier League, that is all you want to do,' added the centre-half. 'I could have gone back to United but I would be sitting on the bench and with the money they've got, they will probably buy one or two centre halves so that would have put me further down the pecking order.'
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prath92 said:
I think you could look at it as we thought it's better to have Blackett as a backup player who won't play much as against Keane who probably wouldn't have played as much as he did at Burnley.

Plus he did himself no favours in the MK Dons game and Blackett at least was fairly decent in the few games he started for us early in the season.
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Blackett played on tour and started the season in the starting 11. I'm not throwing blame, I am simply saying Keane was overlooked before even the MkDons game. Maybe he didn't do well enough in training, or LVG just didn't fancy him. However it highlights a bit of an issue with how you handle the clubs emerging talents when a brand new manager comes in. Had he been shown the faith Blackett was shown at the start of the season and he did well, then I doubt he would have been weary about coming back after a loan. The issue really was that he wasn't seen at the time by the manager as someone who was on the verge of the team and rightly so he decided to move on.

Again I am not blaming anyone I just think there is a whole in our system
 
I remember betting with someone that he will play for a top club or something similar. On the right track.
 
Pexbo said:
Yep. From what I remember he commented on how good the club were to him letting him choose his club for a nominal fee as he took the difficult decision to leave and forge a career elsewhere rather than another loan.

It's that sort of decision by the club that earns us good will with future youngsters.
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I'm not sure what this means?

All players say that when they're leaving "it's been an honour" "really appreciate what the club has done for me" even when they're obviously gutted to be judged not good enough. Didn't he even make a backhanded comment about us and all our money that we'll just buy new defenders instead of keeping a player like Keane?

I doubt he'd be giving us glowing praise if any young player asked him.
 
ManUchosenbosslvg said:
I'm not sure what this means?

All players say that when they're leaving "it's been an honour" "really appreciate what the club has done for me" even when they're obviously gutted to be judged not good enough. Didn't he even make a backhanded comment about us and all our money that we'll just buy new defenders instead of keeping a player like Keane?

I doubt he'd be giving us glowing praise if any young player asked him.
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It means that in conversation with a young player and his parents/agent, we can point to hundreds of cases where we chose what was best for the player over making a few quid.
 
Pexbo said:
It means that in conversation with a young player and his parents/agent, we can point to hundreds of cases where we chose what was best for the player over making a few quid.
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I'm not sure we're on the same page here at all. There's no way in pre contract negotiations with a young player we'll tell them and their parents that when we decide they're not good enough we'll settle for a small fee so they can sign for Burnley:lol:.
 
Cassidy said:
Blackett played on tour and started the season in the starting 11. I'm not throwing blame, I am simply saying Keane was overlooked before even the MkDons game. Maybe he didn't do well enough in training, or LVG just didn't fancy him. However it highlights a bit of an issue with how you handle the clubs emerging talents when a brand new manager comes in. Had he been shown the faith Blackett was shown at the start of the season and he did well, then I doubt he would have been weary about coming back after a loan. The issue really was that he wasn't seen at the time by the manager as someone who was on the verge of the team and rightly so he decided to move on.

Again I am not blaming anyone I just think there is a whole in our system
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That's something you can't do anything about though. Even top clubs like Barca go through where they bought Douglas and all instead of developing bellerin.

It's a catch 22. You need to play them to give them the experience they need to become a top player but you can't play them unless they have proved themselves.

And very few actually have a similar trajectory as Keane does. I remember Tom Thorpe was said to have been 'overlooked' for McNair as he definitely seemed like someone who could play in the PL more easily but Thorpe is hardly pulling up trees.
 
ManUchosenbosslvg said:
I'm not sure we're on the same page here at all. There's no way in pre contract negotiations with a young player we'll tell them and their parents that when we decide they're not good enough we'll settle for a small fee so they can sign for Burnley:lol:.
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A lot of players and their parents are self aware enough to realize they have very little chance of making it at United and will be very pleased with the percent of players who come from our academy and make it as professional players.
 
Along with Arfield, Burnley’s best player again, saved them from going down 2-1 with a crucial tackle before Lukaku could tap it in. Would definitely have him as the 3rd CB rather than Rojo or even Blind. Of course he wouldn’t, and shouldn’t move anywhere to be a back-up. Still, a great start to the season, should make his full England debut soon.
 
Good player, always said it. He was miles ahead of Blackett, who got more playing time for being left footed. Criminal
 
izec said:
Good player, always said it. He was miles ahead of Blackett, who got more playing time for being left footed. Criminal
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Couldn’t agree more. Hard to believe that Blackett got 12 & McNair 27 matches, but Michael only 5. Of course, timing and such play a big part, but still...
 
izec said:
Good player, always said it. He was miles ahead of Blackett, who got more playing time for being left footed. Criminal
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Blackett played left back. I don't think he got many games at center back.
 
Whoscored MOTM today, 8.27 rating.

Defensive: 1 tackle, 8 interceptions (most in the match), 12 clearances (most in the match), 5 blocked shots (most in the match), 1 foul.

Offensive: Best passing% (78.6%) of Burnley excl. subs, most touches on the ball (56) out of Burnley players, 1 key pass.
 
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Wednesday at Stoke said:
Blackett played left back. I don't think he got many games at center back.
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He played 9 games at CB in 15/16. It was back in the days of the 352, he was part of a back 3 for a few games at LVGs United. There were also a few games where he played as the left sided CB like the 4-0 win over QPR and the 5-3 loss v Leicester, both with Rojo at LB. He also played at CB for the U21s that season.

Only played 3 times at LB for us in the first team: 2-1 win at home v Everton, 1-0 loss to Chelsea away and 1-1 draw to Arsenal at home. He didn't start any of those games, only coming in as a sub for the last 20 minutes or so.
 
Raw said:
He played 9 games at CB in 15/16. It was back in the days of the 352, he was part of a back 3 for a few games at LVGs United. There were also a few games where he played as the left sided CB like the 4-0 win over QPR and the 5-3 loss v Leicester, both with Rojo at LB. He also played at CB for the U21s that season.

Only played 3 times at LB for us in the first team: 2-1 win at home v Everton, 1-0 loss to Chelsea away and 1-1 draw to Arsenal at home. He didn't start any of those games, only coming in as a sub for the last 20 minutes or so.
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Yeah I totally forgot about that 3-5-2 period.
 
I think we should have a close look at him. Rojo and Jones are simply not good enough and we don’t have neither the luxury nor the expertise to provide shadowing for some inexperienced CB from the reserves

Keane is decent and he’s a homegrown talent. That’s quite an asset to have considering that rules are set to become tougher against foreign talent.
 
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