There has been some debate over how good Roy Keane was for Manchester United, with his winning mentality and incredible leadership ability sometimes overshadowing how good he was on the pitch.
However, it seems that his fellow professionals don't fall for this, and the reactions of several Italy legends when they met him shows just how highly rated the Irishman was.
Fellow former Ireland international David Meyler revealed to Off The Ball what happened when Andrea Pirlo, Daniele De Rossi, and Gianluigi Buffon came face-to-face with Keane.
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"I reckon Roy is going to ring me after this and go mad," Meyler said, revealing the incident at a friendly between Ireland and Italy in the build up to the 2014 World Cup.
"After the game we were just waiting on the bus. Anyway, [Andrea] Pirlo walks over to Roy to just shake his hand and say hello. Then Daniele De Rossi went up to Roy and asked him for a photograph. As much as we're looking on then thinking these fellas are World Cup winners and phenomenal players, they're all going up to Roy.
"You see a lot of people nowadays on social media say that Roy Keane wasn't that great and just happened to be a good captain. When you see the level of respect he has from those kinds of players though, it shows how good he was."
Then, in the 2016 European Championships, Buffon also loved getting to see the Red Devils legend.
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"Most of you wouldn't have seen this at the time, but I was on the bench when Robbie Brady scored against Italy.
"After the game, Gigi Buffon actually went over and hugged Martin and
Roy, just to kind of say well done. He was just a big, friendly Italian
fella. Even then though, Roy was kind of a bit, 'Get off me', you know."
Is Keane underrated?
Topics: Football News, Football, Manchester United, Man utd, Andrea Pirlo, Gianluigi Buffon, Man United, Roy Keane
