Michael Keane| signed to Everton.

[Enigma_87]

You are writing him off at such an early stage of his career? You are completely missing the point of building a squad. It consists of world class players and some players who could step in their shoes when required.

He is a Gary Cahill type signing for me. Not too high profile, but consistent and dependable. And of course not injury prone. Chelsea never suffered because of him. You just can't have world class players at every position. Even madrid have nacho who ain't world class but he did his job against Bayern.

It's the only deal which is not overpriced considering the sell on clause. Helps in our homegrown quota and a premier league experienced player. He won't be a starter immediately but will develop and eventually replace someone in the first XI.

He's 24, mate. Even for a CB he's far from being a teenager.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

He's 24, mate. Even for a CB he's far from being a teenager.

Okay, its a general consensus for CBs is that they bloom around 27-30, so still he has time on his side. All great center backs belong to this age group.

 

[OohAahMartial]

Smalling out, Keane in and Axel and TFM promoted, will do us fine until Rojo returns. Our defense is already good anyway.

 

[Robertd0803]

I think its safe to say Smalling has peaked, or certainly he isn't going to get much better at this stage of his career. Jones cant stay fit long enough to be reliable.

Keane on the other hand should continue to improve and isn't quite at his peak yet. Underwhelming transfer perhaps because he isn't Ramos/Bonnuci/Laporte or someone fancy and because he used to play for us already.

 

[Enigma_87]

Okay, its a general consensus for CBs is that they bloom around 27-30, so still he has time on his side. All great center backs belong to this age group.

Same can be said for Jones who is an year older and more experienced at high level. If he's a rotational player anyway I don't see how it will be different to Jones(apart from fitness).

Keane transfer screams Schneiderlin. He's good for Burnley but never United level.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

Why would I be furious about Danny Drinkwater? Are United about to sign him for £25m?

I'm not furious about Keane either, just pointing out how poorly the club dealt with the situation. Keane was a very talented young defender. He was excellent on loan at Leicester and Burnley and was impressive in his first team opportunities at United. He didn't improve out of nowhere. It was clear he had potential. He was allowed to leave because McNair was better on the ball and Blackett was left footed.

Allowing LVG to make wholesale changes to the squad when he was on a short term contract and had such an unorthodox style of play was ludicrous. When assessing centre backs, he's about the only manager in world football who doesn't hold "defensive ability" as a key requirement.

If this deal happens, that's a £23m loss on Keane after the losses on Di Maria, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger, Depay and most likely future losses on Darmian and Blind. Add to that players like Chicharito, Welbeck, Nani, Zaha sold for peanuts who all could have been very useful over the last couple of seasons.

All are signs of a poorly run club. If Keane is re-signed and fails to make the grade the club will be an utter laughing stock.

Let's call a spade a spade here - we ARE a poorly run club. It's masked by a gigantic amount of finances and global notoriety.

From appointing Moyes, to our scatter-gun approach to the transfer window, since SAF left the actual football side of our club has been run shambolically. Financially, we're good to go.

Doesnt mean we can't right the wrongs but still.

 

[The red panther]

Smalling out, Keane in and Axel and TFM promoted, will do us fine until Rojo returns. Our defense is already good anyway.

Our defensive stats are good because we play defensively not because we have quality defenders.

A quality defence allows the rest of the team to concentrate more on attacking because they need less defensive support play and a good quality defence also provides the team with quick and quality build-up from the back. We are far from having a quality defence like that.

If Pogba and Herrera need to stay deep often and our fullbacks are not allowed to make risky runs forward on orders of Mourinho because he is scarred our defensive organisation would crack if they don't. If our midfield needs to come deep and pick the ball up from the defenders to build up plays because they can't do it themselves, you know we haven't got a great defence at all.

 

[spenzo]

I think its safe to say Smalling has peaked, or certainly he isn't going to get much better at this stage of his career. Jones cant stay fit long enough to be reliable.

Keane on the other hand should continue to improve and isn't quite at his peak yet. Underwhelming transfer perhaps because he isn't Ramos/Bonnuci/Laporte or someone fancy and because he used to play for us already.

That's exactly what it is for most people I think.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

I'm assuming that Keane would be a more reliable squad player to replace Smalling and/or Jones?

Bailly
New First choice CB
Keane
Rojo
(Blind emergency)

Not really seen much of Keane - is he better than Ben Gibson, or about the same?

 

[Robertd0803]

I'm assuming that Keane would be a more reliable squad player to replace Smalling and/or Jones?

Bailly
New First choice CB
Keane
Rojo
(Blind emergency)

Not really seen much of Keane - is he better than Ben Gibson, or about the same?

Not entirely sure we are going to be buying 2 CBs in one window somehow. Unless we are buying our back up options first and then still going after our priority targets.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

Not entirely sure we are going to be buying 2 CBs in one window somehow. Unless we are buying our back up options first and then still going after our priority targets.

Especially since Mourinho will play the same two CBs until injury or suspension forces him to change.

 

[Shuriken]

According to Stat Attack (as supported by Tony Pulis, a bizarrely successful podcast from Sky Sports):

Statistically, Winston Reid is a better defender than Michael Keane, and Harry Maguire is a better defender than Winston Reid.

For what it's worth.

 

[LoveFootball]

Why would I be furious about Danny Drinkwater? Are United about to sign him for £25m?

I'm not furious about Keane either, just pointing out how poorly the club dealt with the situation. Keane was a very talented young defender. He was excellent on loan at Leicester and Burnley and was impressive in his first team opportunities at United. He didn't improve out of nowhere. It was clear he had potential. He was allowed to leave because McNair was better on the ball and Blackett was left footed.

Allowing LVG to make wholesale changes to the squad when he was on a short term contract and had such an unorthodox style of play was ludicrous. When assessing centre backs, he's about the only manager in world football who doesn't hold "defensive ability" as a key requirement.

If this deal happens, that's a £23m loss on Keane after the losses on Di Maria, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger, Depay and most likely future losses on Darmian and Blind. Add to that players like Chicharito, Welbeck, Nani, Zaha sold for peanuts who all could have been very useful over the last couple of seasons.

All are signs of a poorly run club. If Keane is re-signed and fails to make the grade the club will be an utter laughing stock.

Completely agree with your last posts in this thread apart from the bold part, you forgot Mr Pep Guardiola in that department.

 

[Lawman]

I'm assuming that Keane would be a more reliable squad player to replace Smalling and/or Jones?

Bailly
New First choice CB
Keane
Rojo
(Blind emergency)

Not really seen much of Keane - is he better than Ben Gibson, or about the same?

Better

 

[Freak]

Our defensive options next season, with our best listed first should be:

Centre Backs:
Bailly
Rojo
Keane
Jones
Tuanzebe

Right Backs:
Valencia
Fosu Mensah

Left Backs:
Shaw (or new left back?)
Blind

 

[Lawman]

Let's call a spade a spade here - we ARE a poorly run club. It's masked by a gigantic amount of finances and global notoriety.

From appointing Moyes, to our scatter-gun approach to the transfer window, since SAF left the actual football side of our club has been run shambolically. Financially, we're good to go.

Doesnt mean we can't right the wrongs but still.

We are a very well run club that demands success and gets it. The last few years we lost our manager of 25 years so there has been a massive transition at the club. On field has suffered but we are still winning silver wear albeit slipped out the top four.

With highly successful teams (full of established and high quality players) and or new managers coming in brining in new players as well the odd young player will get lost and flourish somewhere else. This happens most of them not good enough to return yet we still get battered by the media.

There is more United youth products than any other team in the premiership both playing for United and other teams. We do more for the national team than most other clubs. The mistake we have made is not inserting buy back clauses I'm sure that will be addressed but then if we buy back Keane he will be the first we sold that we buy back, as much as the press like to think we willingly sold Pogba that was his own choice (correctly in my opinion as its worked out for him).

I hope we do sign Keane and let the haters hate and the ABU media drone on we will be a better team with him and he has similar strengths to Vidic and we miss such a commanding defender one that actually is calm on the ball.

 

[zeekey]

Our defensive options next season, with our best listed first should be:

Centre Backs:
Bailly
Rojo
Keane
Jones
Tuanzebe

Right Backs:
Valencia
Fosu Mensah

Left Backs:
Shaw (or new left back?)
Blind

Get shot of Mike and bring in Keane? Wouldn't be against it on this seasons showing.

 

[Freak]

Get shot of Mike and bring in Keane? Wouldn't be against it on this seasons showing.

Yup, never been confident in our defence when Smalling's been in it this season. I actually think we need a new left back as well, but I have a soft spot for Shaw and really want him to make it; but the reality is that we probably need a new left back.

 

[prath92]

Why would I be furious about Danny Drinkwater? Are United about to sign him for £25m?

I'm not furious about Keane either, just pointing out how poorly the club dealt with the situation. Keane was a very talented young defender. He was excellent on loan at Leicester and Burnley and was impressive in his first team opportunities at United. He didn't improve out of nowhere. It was clear he had potential. He was allowed to leave because McNair was better on the ball and Blackett was left footed.

Allowing LVG to make wholesale changes to the squad when he was on a short term contract and had such an unorthodox style of play was ludicrous. When assessing centre backs, he's about the only manager in world football who doesn't hold "defensive ability" as a key requirement.

If this deal happens, that's a £23m loss on Keane after the losses on Di Maria, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger, Depay and most likely future losses on Darmian and Blind. Add to that players like Chicharito, Welbeck, Nani, Zaha sold for peanuts who all could have been very useful over the last couple of seasons.

All are signs of a poorly run club. If Keane is re-signed and fails to make the grade the club will be an utter laughing stock.

It's quite obvious what happened.

At that time other CBs we had were much better than Keane. We sent him on loan and then sold him.

Now he played 90 minutes every game for 2 wholes seasons and this improved him overall. We buy him because of the player he is today. It's debatable that he would have got these minutes here in the last 2 seasons and thus, reach this level.

it wouldn't make us a laughing stock. Did Barca turn into a laughing stock buying back cesc, Alba and Vidal, three players they let go of nothing and then bought back for fairly big amounts. Carvajal was bought back for above 30m. It's very common in today's world.

So no, we aren't going to turn into a laughing stock. Big teams can't afford to give a lot of minutes to all of their academy players so they sell many and if they end up good they buy them back.

Zaha nani and welbeck sales are nothing to regret. The fees are not something that we worry about. Even in the past, we have sold players for relatively nothing. How much did we get for shawcross? Rossi? Pique? Pogba? Drinkwater? All these players ended up very good players for their teams later. We just don't stand in the way of where a player wants to go just in the name of transfer fees. I don't mind that at all. We are financially secure enough to not care about a few millions in transfer fees.

 

[RooneyLegend]

Would much prefer Maguire, better player all round and will probably be cheaper.

 

[Jaybomb]

Do not want.

This transfer is 100% sentimental. If he never played for us, would we be interested? Unlikely. He's not an improvement on Smalling or Jones and he will probably cost anywhere between 15-30m and that's just too overpriced.

We need a top class experienced CB like Pique, Pepe, Miranda or Bonucci. Why haven't we signed one yet?

 

[TehRed]

Keane has excellent stats with regards to clearances and headers, he's homegrown, he wouldn't expect to start absolutely every game, he's from our youth setup, he's not known for errors, he's Premier League tested, and he's done well at this level.

He seems a far more competent defender than John Stones, and he'd cost about half as much. I'd take him. He doesn't have to be the only defender we sign. I still think our squad needs an older, more experienced defender. We've never really recovered from losing, Rio, Evra and Vidic so quickly.

If Rojo misses the start of the season, one of Smalling or Jones gets sold, and Blind were to be used more as left back cover or even sold too, I wouldn't mind us having the following options for next season:

Bailly
Rojo
Keane
One of Smalling or Jones
Experienced new signing

 

[el3mel]

Do not want.

This transfer is 100% sentimental. If he never played for us, would we be interested? Unlikely. He's not an improvement on Smalling or Jones and he will probably cost anywhere between 15-30m and that's just too overpriced.

We need a top class experienced CB like Pique, Pepe, Miranda or Bonucci. Why haven't we signed one yet?

Because none of their clubs will let them go, beside, they weren't born as experienced as they are now. Was vidic an experienced when we brought him ? Experience comes with playing and as long as you have talent, you're fine.

I'll prefer to invest in good and cheap defensive talents for a long term partnership here tbh.

 

[POF]

Completely agree with your last posts in this thread apart from the bold part, you forgot Mr Pep Guardiola in that department.

I agree but at least Pep has learned and adapted. For the run in he has played Kompany and Otamendi at centre back. Not a Stones or Kolarov in sight.

It's quite obvious what happened.

At that time other CBs we had were much better than Keane. We sent him on loan and then sold him.

Now he played 90 minutes every game for 2 wholes seasons and this improved him overall. We buy him because of the player he is today. It's debatable that he would have got these minutes here in the last 2 seasons and thus, reach this level.

it wouldn't make us a laughing stock. Did Barca turn into a laughing stock buying back cesc, Alba and Vidal, three players they let go of nothing and then bought back for fairly big amounts. Carvajal was bought back for above 30m. It's very common in today's world.

So no, we aren't going to turn into a laughing stock. Big teams can't afford to give a lot of minutes to all of their academy players so they sell many and if they end up good they buy them back.

Zaha nani and welbeck sales are nothing to regret. The fees are not something that we worry about. Even in the past, we have sold players for relatively nothing. How much did we get for shawcross? Rossi? Pique? Pogba? Drinkwater? All these players ended up very good players for their teams later. We just don't stand in the way of where a player wants to go just in the name of transfer fees. I don't mind that at all. We are financially secure enough to not care about a few millions in transfer fees.

Your examples are Barcelona and Real, clubs who are on a different level to any other. They just take the best players from the rest of La Liga whenever they want. Even Real showed with Moratta that you can "sell" players and still be able to bring him back at a reasonable price in the future when you identify potential. Barca did the same with the likes of Romeu and Delofeu.

Yes, United have sold players cheaply before but that is when they have decided they didn't have a future at the club. Buying someone back 2 years later for that much more than you got for him is terrible business and shows a club that has no long term plan.

Nani and Zaha were particularly ridiculous. LVG got rid of them both because they didn't fit his 3-5-2. In his second season he never stopped complaining that he didn't have creative, fast wingers. Long term planning at its best.

 

[jesperjaap]

Okay, its a general consensus for CBs is that they bloom around 27-30, so still he has time on his side. All great center backs belong to this age group.

Keane will never be a great centre back though in my opinion and will actually be no better than the two English centre backs we already have and should be selling. Replacing them with a player no better just because he has a better injury record seems highly unlikely to be true to me....I hope anyway

 

[jesperjaap]

Our defensive options next season, with our best listed first should be:

Centre Backs:
Bailly
Rojo
Keane
Jones
Tuanzebe

Right Backs:
Valencia
Fosu Mensah

Left Backs:
Shaw (or new left back?)
Blind

I know he has been played there more than anywhere else for his introduction to the team but Mensah is never long term a right back to me. He looks lost positionally there. His best position at the moment is a centre back just as Tuanzabe is never a central midfielder (ironically I think Mensah could be superb in the position Tuanzabe has been playing though recently).
Also the list you have written fills me with dread as personally I think it looks weaker than what we already have, we need to be looking at much better cb signings than Keane to improve our back line

 

[SouthPredators4]

Every successful team needs a strong spine made up of players who know the club inside out, the culture, significance of its history, fans' expectations and rivalry. Ideally, and with most cases, the spine is made up of players who came through the youth ranks, local boys or players sharing the nationality of the club. However, the spine may not be the best players as they may not possess the neceesary qualities to lead. Puyol wasn't the best, so was Hierro, Bruce, Adams, Carragher, etc. Now look at our team and who do you see being around in the next 3 to 4 years fulfilling such a role? Herrera probably, Rashford seems kinda meek, and as such, i like the signing of Keane as his role both on and off the pitch is absolutely fundamental during this transitional period of the club.

 

[SouthPredators4]

Keane will never be a great centre back though in my opinion and will actually be no better than the two English centre backs we already have and should be selling. Replacing them with a player no better just because he has a better injury record seems highly unlikely to be true to me....I hope anyway

I think Keane has a lot to prove and would have a huge part to play with the club going for succeses in all competitions. As for Jones and Smalling, i am starting to have doubts over their commitment, drive and other intangible qualities. I think there is a pressing need to cultivate a winning mentality and the current English contigent strike me as players nesting in their secured comfort zone due to lack of competition. My dad used to say "If u hang out with 9 losers, you'll be the tenth".

 

[arthurka]

Again Jose knows his CB stuff.. I trust him finding us a new CB Keane or not.

 

[jesperjaap]

I think Keane has a lot to prove and would have a huge part to play with the club going for succeses in all competitions. As for Jones and Smalling, i am starting to have doubts over their commitment, drive and other intangible qualities. I think there is a pressing need to cultivate a winning mentality and the current English contigent strike me as players nesting in their secured comfort zone due to lack of competition. My dad used to say "If u hang out with 9 losers, you'll be the tenth".

Agree with your general comments and bar Rashford Im not sure on the mentality of the likes of Lingard, Jones, Smalling or to be frank (bar Jones) the talent or intelligence of the players in a footballing sense. Of course the injury records arent great with two of them either. Still Keane might have the best mentality in the world and intelligence I really dont see any sense of good talent though, as I never did with jOhnny Evans (tho I saw more in him). I just see Keane as a really average decent defender who does the simple things adequately, for me all good reasons for him being sold in the first place we are Manchester United not Stoke

 

[SouthPredators4]

Agree with your general comments and bar Rashford Im not sure on the mentality of the likes of Lingard, Jones, Smalling or to be frank (bar Jones) the talent or intelligence of the players in a footballing sense. Of course the injury records arent great with two of them either. Still Keane might have the best mentality in the world and intelligence I really dont see any sense of good talent though, as I never did with jOhnny Evans (tho I saw more in him). I just see Keane as a really average decent defender who does the simple things adequately, for me all good reasons for him being sold in the first place we are Manchester United not Stoke

Well, my sentmentals are likewise. However, i would still prefer Keane over Smalling and Jones for the rotational role and to fulfill the homegrown rule. Even if talent aside, Keane's hunger and injury record would still be a upgrade on the field. I just think Jones and Smalling had it all too easy in their career. Selling one of them, together with Keane's selling clause, the club probably have to top up max 8mil which really is a decent investment.

 

[prath92]

Your examples are Barcelona and Real, clubs who are on a different level to any other. They just take the best players from the rest of La Liga whenever they want. Even Real showed with Moratta that you can "sell" players and still be able to bring him back at a reasonable price in the future when you identify potential. Barca did the same with the likes of Romeu and Delofeu.

Yes, United have sold players cheaply before but that is when they have decided they didn't have a future at the club. Buying someone back 2 years later for that much more than you got for him is terrible business and shows a club that has no long term plan.

It doesnt. Its not like we buy every player. We bought Pogba. We seem to be buying Keane. Who else? Pogba left on a free disillusioned with his role and Keane left so that he can improve as a player. He has and we are looking to buy him back. You talk as if we are buying back every single player that we sold in the past. Chelsea are supposedly looking to buy Lukaku for more than 28m that they got. This is more common than you think it is. We sold Keane because at the time he wasnt good enouogh. He has clearly improved. When he initially went on loan to Burnley, he was on the bench for a good few months before an injury forced them to play him. It clearly shows that he wasnt anything spectacular.

Nani and Zaha were particularly ridiculous. LVG got rid of them both because they didn't fit his 3-5-2. In his second season he never stopped complaining that he didn't have creative, fast wingers. Long term planning at its best.

This is revisionism at its finest. Zaha was sold because he wasnt good enough. Not because of anything else. Even if we assume Zaha was unfairly treated by LvG and Moyes, how do you explain his poor loan spell at cardiff in 13-14? How do you explain his average performances (at best) in 14-15 and 15-16 for Crystal Palace? Zaha, like Keane, improved due to playing week in week out and being the focal point of attack. He wouldnt get that here and thus, he would never have been anything more than average.

Nani again is barely any good playing at a decent season. His team is languishing in 12th and he has 4 goals and 7 assists in close to 1800 minutes. Nothing to suggest that he would displace anyone we have in the team. Martial barely gets in the team and he has better numbers.

 

[cheeky_backheel]

Do not want.

This transfer is 100% sentimental. If he never played for us, would we be interested? Unlikely. He's not an improvement on Smalling or Jones and he will probably cost anywhere between 15-30m and that's just too overpriced.

We need a top class experienced CB like Pique, Pepe, Miranda or Bonucci. Why haven't we signed one yet?

Those are players that either past it or not available.

 

[SouthPredators4]

Before we laud or criticise this potential signings, lets not be unrealistic about signing players who are worldclass levels. Money is not everything to a player, considering Manchester is not a preferred choice and the club is in transition. Instead, look at whether he will improve us, abeit gradually. We are not going to compete for the CL so lets get the players to compete domestically before talking about globally. Key word is transitional and looking at Cahill for Chelsea would be a good example. Now that Chelsea has won the league, i bet Conte will be looking for better CBs to partner Luiz.

 

[POF]

It doesnt. Its not like we buy every player. We bought Pogba. We seem to be buying Keane. Who else? Pogba left on a free disillusioned with his role and Keane left so that he can improve as a player. He has and we are looking to buy him back. You talk as if we are buying back every single player that we sold in the past. Chelsea are supposedly looking to buy Lukaku for more than 28m that they got. This is more common than you think it is. We sold Keane because at the time he wasnt good enouogh. He has clearly improved. When he initially went on loan to Burnley, he was on the bench for a good few months before an injury forced them to play him. It clearly shows that he wasnt anything spectacular.



This is revisionism at its finest. Zaha was sold because he wasnt good enough. Not because of anything else. Even if we assume Zaha was unfairly treated by LvG and Moyes, how do you explain his poor loan spell at cardiff in 13-14? How do you explain his average performances (at best) in 14-15 and 15-16 for Crystal Palace? Zaha, like Keane, improved due to playing week in week out and being the focal point of attack. He wouldnt get that here and thus, he would never have been anything more than average.

Nani again is barely any good playing at a decent season. His team is languishing in 12th and he has 4 goals and 7 assists in close to 1800 minutes. Nothing to suggest that he would displace anyone we have in the team. Martial barely gets in the team and he has better numbers.

On Nani and Zaha, I am not talking about this season. During LVG's last season, when the team was performing terribly, he kept coming back to the fact that he had to play Mata wide because he didn't have "fast, creative wingers". He didn't have any because he sold the ones he had.

Nani excelled in a European Championship winning team last summer and in the latter part of last season Zaha was one of the best wingers in the league. Add Di Maria to that list too. They may not be elite top quality but having options to fill that role might have made all the difference in getting into the top 4. It was poor squad management.

As for spending £25m on Keane just 2 years after letting him go for peanuts, if you think that was good squad management there is nothing more I can say. While those beacons of well run clubs Real, Barca and Chelsea do it, how can anyone argue.

The LVG squad rebuild has been a complete and utter disaster in my opinion. Entrusting him with that task was up there with appointing Moyes as one of the stupidest decisions the club has made. There was a huge turnover of players at enormous expense and I think Jose would have preferred the squad LVG inherited than the one he was left with. There are arguably 2 LVG signings in the current first choice 11 and Jose basically cannot get the rest out of the club quickly enough.

 

[itso 7]

On Nani and Zaha, I am not talking about this season. During LVG's last season, when the team was performing terribly, he kept coming back to the fact that he had to play Mata wide because he didn't have "fast, creative wingers". He didn't have any because he sold the ones he had.

Nani excelled in a European Championship winning team last summer and in the latter part of last season Zaha was one of the best wingers in the league. Add Di Maria to that list too. They may not be elite top quality but having options to fill that role might have made all the difference in getting into the top 4. It was poor squad management.

As for spending £25m on Keane just 2 years after letting him go for peanuts, if you think that was good squad management there is nothing more I can say. While those beacons of well run clubs Real, Barca and Chelsea do it, how can anyone argue.

The LVG squad rebuild has been a complete and utter disaster in my opinion. Entrusting him with that task was up there with appointing Moyes as one of the stupidest decisions the club has made. There was a huge turnover of players at enormous expense and I think Jose would have preferred the squad LVG inherited than the one he was left with. There are arguably 2 LVG signings in the current first choice 11 and Jose basically cannot get the rest out of the club quickly enough.

You are crying over spilt milk and it serves no purpose in the decisions that need to be made now. Mourinho clearly sees aomething he can work with in Keane and his record with CBs is close to spotless so lets trust him on that. I also agree with thise that are saying that we are a long way from competing for the CL so small but incremental improvements will have to do for now and when we are at that stage we can always sign the big names that people are crying for.
£25m looks like a lot but I am sure that when factored in with what we have probably been quoted for other defenders and in the context of what we need in other areas of the pitch the management has settled on him as the cheap but adequate option for the team's immediate needs.

 

[Kidders]

I've chipped in with my comments on our other 'targets' so here's mine on Keane, would he be a certain starter ? NO, is he £25m better than what we have ? NO, would he be happy as a squad player having made the England squad ? NO. It does'nt make sense to me, our big money arrivals need to go straight into the first team and IMPROVE on what we already have, if he is happy with limited game time and replaces Smalling for a small difference in transfer fees then fine, but it would still leave me thinking we need another top quality CB and I don't see us buying 2 CB's in one window when we have 5, maybe 6 that can already play there.

 

[Long Ball]

I've chipped in with my comments on our other 'targets' so here's mine on Keane, would he be a certain starter ? NO, is he £25m better than what we have ? NO, would he be happy as a squad player having made the England squad ? NO. It does'nt make sense to me, our big money arrivals need to go straight into the first team and IMPROVE on what we already have, if he is happy with limited game time and replaces Smalling for a small difference in transfer fees then fine, but it would still leave me thinking we need another top quality CB and I don't see us buying 2 CB's in one window when we have 5, maybe 6 that can already play there.

30million on a defender isn't big money anymore. An out and out world class starter would cost the likes of 50million. Look at what city have paid for the likes of stones or mangala, plus the numbers being touted for van djik

30, with the fee lowered due to the sell on, is acceptable considering the premier league tax. I'd agree that a similar quality to keane from la liga would cost 20million however, and if Jose can unearth another Bailly gemstone I'm all fall it.

But we need a quality starter whilst Rojo is injured. Do you trust Smalling or Jones? Nevermind to stay fit...

Jose could move Smalling and jones on and replace them with keane and Tuanzebe. Makes for a better and fitter squad in my opinion.

Jose's strength is the defense, trust him if he buys Keane - he could really blossom under his tutelage

 

[the hea]

Would anyone feel better if it was a straight swap for Smalling instead of the reported 25m? If we can get 15-20m for Smalling and pay 25m minus the sell on fee for Keane it would basically be that.

 

[Wallez]

I totally agree with Kidders, can't see Keane returning as a backup player. He left United to get game time, and now he is a star player for a PL team. He will probably get offers from the likes of Southampton, Everton or West Ham where he is promised a place in the starting 11, so why would he return to Manchester as a bench warmer? For me, it would look like a step backwards in his career. If we sign Keane it would probably be our only centre back signing, and I am not sure that I am comfortable with that. He certainly looks like a good player that would suit as a partner to Bailly, but I really think that we should be aiming higher than this with our signings. Keane thrives in the defensive Burnley line where he has a lot of work to be done, but playing as a centre defender for a top team is another story. You have to keep your concentration up for the entire 90 minutes, even if you are not involved in the game for long periods. Put Smalling and Jones in the Burnley defense, and they would look like better players than Keane. Just look at Evans who went from being absolute shit in his last season in Manchester to suddenly becoming a fantastic player for West Brom.