Manchester United are reportedly “kicking themselves” having failed to put a sell-on clause in Michael Keane’s contract with Burnley.
The 23-year-old is attracting plenty of praise as he continues to play a crucial role for Sean Dyche’s men so far this season, having left Old Trafford in a £2m deal in January 2015, as noted by The Guardian.
However, the decision to sell for such a low fee coupled with the fact that they didn’t include a sell-on clause has reportedly left United ruing what could turn out to be a costly mistake.
“The club is kicking themselves over it and some people are now keeping their heads down,” a United source revealed to The Sun.
“There is a fear they could be hearing ‘we told you so’ in the near future. He has always been highly-rated by United’s reserve coaches.”
The report goes on to add that Keane is valued at £25m now and has attracted interest from Chelsea who could make a big-money offer in the January transfer window as they look to shore up their leaky defence.
Regardless of whether or not a move does materialise, United won’t be getting a penny from the deal and that will be a source of great frustration as many clubs do cash in on young players that fail to make the breakthrough before moving on and excelling.
Keane has made 61 appearances and scored six goals for Burnley since initially joining them on loan in 2014, and he will likely be paying no attention to the speculation as he focuses on helping the Clarets stay in the Premier League this season.
Further, he will also have a possible first England cap to look forward to having been called up by Gareth Southgate after veteran full-back Glen Johnson was forced to withdraw from the squad to face Malta and Slovenia in the upcoming World Cup 2018 qualifiers.