UNITED Reds Keane not to make transfer mistakes again
SHOULD Michael Keane return to United this summer, it will be touted as another expensive mistake from the Old Trafford hierarchy.
The defender would cost United in the region of £20m, after being sold by Louis van Gaal for a fraction of the price.
It’s unfortunate timing, 12 months after Paul Pogba returned home.
But Keane’s situation is very different from his former FA Youth Cup-winning team-mate, and is indicative of a potential shift in the way clubs develop young players.
The centre-back was not United quality when he departed in 2015, which is why he was available to a Championship club for £2m.
Regular first-team football in the intervening two-and-a-half years is what has made Keane one of the Premier League’s hottest central defenders this summer.
United did insert a 25 per cent sell on clause into the Keane transfer, meaning they get a cheaper deal than their rivals would.
When offloading 22-year-old Memphis Depay, the club took it one step further and insisted on a buyback clause – and it is unlikely to be the last time that tactic is used.
There is an acceptance that how the English system develops young players is currently inadequate. Academy director Nicky Butt recently criticised the Premier League 2, while the U18 system is set to return to its previous format and thereby reduce the number of league fixtures against top academies.
Loans are currently the only option available, but the list of players who have floundered at a succession of temporary homes is endless – and far from limited to United.
Jesse Lingard is the most recent success from that route, but it took him four loans in as many years before making the breakthrough at Old Trafford.
It is increasingly difficult to hand promising youngsters the minutes they need, especially when keeping them at their parent club condemns them to an inadequate U23 fixture list in search of more regular game time.