Keane ‘worried about’ Man Utd trio as ‘competing’ fears explained – ‘finish eighth’

Club legend Roy Keane has identified two positions of concern for Manchester United heading into the 2024/25 Premier League season.

Man Utd have been very busy in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s first summer at the club, spending £150million on four new players.

Joshua Zirkzee was their first signing of the summer, before Leny Yoro was brought in from Lille, brining the Red Devils’ spending up to £88m.

After weeks of negotiations with Bayern Munich, they reached an agreement to sign defenders Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui over the weekend.

Ratcliffe is far from finished in the transfer market with a new defensive midfielder his top priority, while another attacker could also be signed.

Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Manuel Ugarte has been pursued over the last month but the French champions are not budging on their £51m valuation.

This has left Burnley’s Sander Berge and Fiorentina’s Sofyan Amrabat – who spent last season on loan at Old Trafford – as Man Utd’s alternative options.

Man Utd legend Roy Keane ‘worried’ about Onana, Hojlund and Zirkzee

The lack of reinforcements in midfield could hinder Erik ten Hag’s side ahead of Fulham’s Premier League curtain raiser, with former captain Keane worried about the team’s “spine”.

When discussing Man Utd’s hopes for 24/25, Keane singled out the goalkeeper, Andre Onana, and said he is not convinced by the strikers at the club – Rasmus Hojlund and Zirkzee.

“It’s always a worry for me about competing and I still worry about the spine of that Manchester United team,” he said.

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“For all the nice play they have and good players, I still worry about the goalkeeper and striker.

“On paper they have a decent squad, but the reality is when they’ve played games, and last year with their record in the league they were so open.

“If you’re on about competing, I worry about the spine of the team.”

Keane did admit that Man Utd should improve on their eighth-place finish last term.

“I fully expect United will do a lot better than last year,” the Irishman added.

“They can’t finish eighth again, can they? They can’t be that bad. But we are talking about fourth here.”

Fellow pundit and former team-mate Gary Neville added that Man Utd will only finish in the top four “if they stay clear of injuries”.

He said: “Injuries are the massive thing for Manchester United. The left back is a problem because if [Luke] Shaw is out the drop off is massive.

“I do think they’ll get into the top four if they stay clear of injuries.”

📣 TO THE COMMENTS! Should Man Utd pay £51m for Manuel Ugarte? Join the debate here.

Man Utd’s Community Shield defeat to Man City filled Neville with hope after they were denied victory by a late Bernardo Silva header which sent the match to penalties.

“There was a massive difference last year,” Neville explained. “They played Casemiro sitting on his own, with no one alongside him, and they had basically [Mason] Mount and [Bruno] Fernandes right in front, and then they had the two wide players high.

“That is not what they are doing now. They are putting [Kobbie] Mainoo alongside Casemiro and then they are playing narrow with Mount and Fernandes.

“I’m not saying it’s a system, I can’t see a balance, but he’s [Ten Hag] got an interesting four players that he might try and go with, with some sort of split striker.

“I think he’ll like what he’d have seen against City, in the sense that they can play with each other, and they can also be a bit narrow and compact.”

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