Paul Ince believes that Erling Haaland will not sign for Manchester United in the summer due to Roy Keane’s previous experiences with his father.
Keane’s brutal tackle on Alf-Inge Haaland in April 2001 has gone on to be labelled as one of the most ‘deserved‘ red cards in Premier League history, as the Norwegian went on to play just 48 more minutes in his career.
The rivalry started four years prior to this horror tackle when Haaland chased down Keane who was through on goal and his resulting tackle left Keane with a cruciate ligament injury.
Ince has identified that United need a new forward, but can’t see his son joining Manchester United because of the situation that happened over 20 years ago.
Ince said: “United need a new striker. Haaland is a tricky one because of the situation with his dad and Keane at Old Trafford. I can’t see him going to Old Trafford just based on that, and if there’s no Champions League, he definitely won’t.”
TIF Thoughts on Paul Ince’s comments…
After Ince has come out and identified that he doesn’t see Haaland making the switch to United, there is a serious case for his argument.
There have been many players on the receiving end of one of Keane’s crunching tackles, though this one was a clear act of retaliation, and Keane’s actions after the challenge solidify this.
In Keane’s new online show with Micah Richards, the former United captain was clear when stating that he will ‘never apologise’ for his actions on the pitch.
“Did I go to hurt players? Of course I did. I’d never apologise for that. And people went to hurt me. When you go for a ball in the middle of the park there’s a good chance that somebody is going to get hurt,” Keane said.
Due to Keane’s honesty in that he did in fact go out to hurt players, and the injury being one that ended the Borussia Dortmund forward’s father’s career, it may be something difficult for him to put aside, meaning United may well miss out on signing him.