The Irish Examiner reports that Manchester United legend Roy Keane has met with the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and is a strong candidate to become the next manager of Ireland.
The former Red Devils star is favoured to take over the role next month after meeting with FAI representatives three times.
Between 2013 and 2018, Keane worked as Martin O’Neill’s assistant for the Boys in Green. Now, he has the opportunity to succeed John O’Shea, the temporary manager who took over when Stephen Kenny left in November.
Man United legend has past experience
From July to November of 2014, Keane served as Aston Villa’s assistant manager for a brief period of time before leaving to focus on his assistant management position with Ireland.
In January 2019, he rejoined O’Neill as Nottingham Forest’s assistant manager, and he departed six months later.
The legendary player of Man United oversaw Sunderland from 2006 to 2008 before moving to Ipswich Town in 2009 to 2011.
The Man United legend is admired as a pundit
After turning down a chance to manage Sunderland once again, the Man United icon became a football pundit.
However, if the FAI are certain that he is the best candidate, Keane may soon return to the dugout.
It will be interesting to watch whether he returns to the technical area in the near future, since he recently acknowledged in an edition of the Stick to Football podcast that he is open to returning to international management because it is less stressful than working at the club level.
Recently, Keane has made a number of appearances as a football pundit on different platforms and his bold and straight-forward way of punditry is loved by the fans.