Irish Sunday Mirror

People will question why I turned down United, but I knew Everton were right for me in long run MICHAEL KEANE

- BY DAVID MADDOCK

MANCHESTER UNITED v EVERTON

The England defender was given the chance to return to his former club – and first love – Manchester United in the summer, but instead chose Everton, despite the personal interventi­on of a pleading Jose Mourinho.

Two painful 3-0 defeats in a week and the timing could not be worse for the cultured centre-back to make the trip to Old Trafford today, the place he grew up in and called home.

For this intelligen­t man, though, his career is a long-term project.

The venom from the Blues faithful after woeful displays against Spurs and Atalanta was confirmati­on that he has done the right thing – not made a terrible mistake.

“Obviously, you can’t like the booing, but that is nothing against the fans,” he said.

“It shows the size of the club. We don’t need the fans to boo to know ourselves. We go in at half-time and we know it wasn’t good enough. But, clearly, there is a lot more expectatio­n at a bigger club like Everton. It does hurt you more.

“No disrespect to Burnley, but we do have higher ambitions. We have had a difficult start and played a lot of the top teams, but that’s no excuse.

“We want to try to win every game we go into – that is part and parcel of being at a big club, you have to stay in competitio­ns until the latter stages. We have a big squad of players.”

Keane was speaking after an Everton in the Community event, the brilliant project that has made the club the envy of the Premier League. As an ambassador for the charity, he coaches primary kids with a natural confidence. Clearly, this grounded view of life played a big part in his difficult decision to turn down United. Both he and his brother Will were at Old Trafford as kids, their family are huge fans and there was an assumption he would go back when he had the pick of the Premier League clubs in the summer on leaving Burnley. “Of course, people will question it,” he said. “They are one of the biggest clubs in the world and it is not an easy decision. I thought about it throughout the summer. I spoke to family, friends, my agent and I got advice from people I used to work with at United.

“In the end, I came to the decision of joining Everton and I am thankful I did that because I think it is going to be the best thing for me in the long run.

“My family are fans and they probably thought I would go back to United.

“My brother Will has been with me at United, he is a big fan and he was massively involved in the decision, as were my other brothers, my mum and dad – we are just a footballin­g family.

“But, once I made that decision, they were with me all the way.

“I thought I’d get a lot of game time here at Everton, more than I would at United and that was a massive factor in my decision.

“It is a big club like United, a great fan base and we are in Europe, so the main thing for me was to play games, especially in World Cup year.

“I want to play and that means the not-so-good games too. I’m young and it will make me a better player.”

Not that he wants to hear boos at Old Trafford – from either side.

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