ROY KEANE HAS been left “scratching his head” over the astronomical sums of money changing hands during this transfer window.
This summer has already seen the world record smashed by Neymar’s €222 million (£198m) move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain, while the Catalan giants paid Borussia Dortmund €105m (£97m) for Ousmane Dembele and fellow Frenchman Kylian Mbappe looks set to leave Monaco for their rivals PSG in another huge deal.
The unprecedented wealth of Premier League clubs also means middle-ranking players are now going for three or four times what they would have cost just 12 months ago.
Back in 1993, Keane became the most-expensive player in British football when he joined Manchester United from Nottingham Forest for a paltry £3.75m. When asked about the current market, the Ireland assistant manager admitted that he’s been left baffled.
“It’s mind-boggling,” Keane said at Ireland’s base in Dublin today. “The figures that are out there now — especially for the average players. If ever there was a time to be a professional player it’s now. Average players are going for £35 million, my goodness.
“I don’t really analyse it too much, but that’s the market place at the moment. There aren’t many top players out there. The really big players are going for big money and it’s filtering down.
When average players are going for £30-40m, it does make you scratch your head. If the clubs are prepared to pay that then it’s not the players’ fault.”
As captain of one of the great Man United sides, Keane played alongside some top names in his day but how much would they be worth today?
“The players I played with? Which players are you talking about?” he replied.
Ruud van Nistelrooy? “’Ruud would be worth, in the market now, probably a billion.”
David Beckham? “A billion.”
Ryan Giggs? “Two billion.”
Roy Keane? “£3.75m — I think,” he grinned.
With Thursday’s transfer deadline day fast approaching, Keane doesn’t expect any of the Ireland squad to be involved in late deals but — with the Boys in Green preparing for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Georgia in Tbilisi — he admitted that situations can easily change.
“If something happens for a player, it happens,” he added. “A lot of our lads have had some good moves over the summer. I’m not aware of anyone [who might be moving] over the next few days — whether it be speculation [or not]. It’s not ideal if it does happen as we’ll be travelling on Thursday.
“If something happens with a player, I know the manager has been very good before in terms of them going back for medicals. As far as I’m aware, nothing seems to be in the pipeline but of course that can change very quickly. I don’t know of anybody on standby to be jumping on flights.
“In an ideal world, that’s not the case but players have to look after themselves and if there’s a move lined up they’ll go for it.”
– First published 14.05, 29 August
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