“Jealous” – Roy Keane reveals two European giants he was ‘very close’ to leaving Man United for

Roy Keane has revealed the two clubs he was close to leaving Manchester United for and how he was ‘jealous’ that he never ended up playing abroad.

The former United captain spent 12 years at Old Trafford after joining the club in 1993. He was absolutely essential in the early dominance Sir Alex Ferguson had in the Premier League.

Keane led the team in the centre of midfield, both in an offensive and defensive sense. But he eventually left United in 2005 after an outburst with the Scottish manager following comments that the Irish international made about his teammates on the club’s media channel.

However, by that time the midfielder was 34 years of age and he would only go on to play one more season at Celtic before retiring. His best years came at Old Trafford, yet, he has explained the interest in him from abroad during his peak years on The Overlap’s new show, ‘Stick to Football’.

The then-United captain had Bayern Munich and Juventus chasing after him and had even agreed a deal with the Italian club, but a move never materialised and that’s something that Keane seems to regret.

“Yeah, very close, yeah,” replied Keane when Gary Neville asked if he was close to leaving United for Bayern Munich. “Wish I bloody had! I wish I’d gone abroad, yeah.”

Then questioned by Ian Wright about interest from Juventus, the former United captain replied: “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.”

Keane made 480 appearances for United across his career and scored 51 goals for the club.