Roy Keane snubbed Cristiano Ronaldo when naming his five world class Man Utd teammates
Roy Keane omitted Cristiano Ronaldo when he selected the five world-class stars he played with during his time at Manchester United.
Keane joined the Red Devils from Nottingham Forest back in 1993 for a then-British record transfer fee of £3.75 million and spent 12 years at Old Trafford.
He played 480 times for United, scoring 51 goals and winning seven Premier League titles, four FA Cups, four FA Community Shields and one Champions League.
Keane's incredible spell with United saw him establish himself as one of the best midfielders in Premier League history and a legendary captain for the club.
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But while he played with a number of huge names, Keane believes only five of his teammates were worthy of being considered "world-class".
Ryan Giggs was Keane's first pick, owing to his longevity at United.
"We never gave ourselves an opportunity to talk about players being world-class," Keane said on Sky Sports in 2019.
"But if I look back now, you'd have to class Giggsy [Ryan Giggs].
“I always class the world class players as lads who were doing it for nine, ten, 11 years - obviously Giggsy's done it for a lot longer, but to me, that's the key to being a really good player - you've got to be consistent.
“We see players now, they have a good month and [they're] patting themselves on the back. You have to be good for years and years, and Giggsy would have been a prime example.”
He also included Paul Scholes, Eric Cantona and Mark Hughes, describing the trio as "brilliant".
But Keane finished off by naming his fellow Cork native Denis Irwin, who has his roommate for many years. Signed from Oldham Athletic for a fee of £650,000, he is deemed to be Sir Alex Ferguson's greatest bit of transfer business and the 13-time Premier League winner admitted he is the first name on the teamsheet in his all-time XI.
Keane loved Irwin's versatility, commenting: "My God, imagine if Denis Irwin was playing now. He could play left-back, right-back, get you a goal, knew how to defend, never injured, a brilliant guy in the dressing room.
“Denis would be world class to me - and he's a Corkman!”
The 53-year-old did not mention David Beckham or even Cristiano Ronaldo or Wayne Rooney, who he played with towards the end of his tenure at United.
Keane's contract was terminated in 2005 following on from an explosive interview with MUTV after a heavy defeat to Middlesbrough.
He finished his career with Celtic in the Scottish Premier League, playing 13 times.
Topics: Roy Keane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Man Utd
Josh Lawless