Roy Keane has said that if given the choice to be managed by either Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp, he would pick the former.
The well-known pundit was quizzed about this as the likes of Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville and Ian Wright all chose the Liverpool manager on The Overlap’s Stick To Football.
Roy Keane says he would rather work with Pep Guardiola over Jurgen Klopp
Mauricio Pochettino claimed that the £378,846-a-week man is one of the three greatest managers in history alongside Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlo Ancelotti.
While Andy Townsend went as far as to crown the 52-year-old as the greatest coach to have ever graced the game.
As debates between Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp continue to rage on, Roy Keane has explained why he would rather be coached by the two-time treble-winner.
“I’d say Pep”, Keane told The Overlap’s Stick To Football.
“I could see [myself under Pep Guardiola].”
“Sitting midfielder. I can be that sitting midfielder that obviously Pep used to play himself. I think I’d enjoy working under Pep. Listen, [Jurgen] Klopp is obviously brilliant, great personality for the game, you can see why players love playing for him but maybe, I’d just sneak for Pep”, he said about the Manchester City icon.
Pep Guardiola could have even further improved the Manchester United legend
If Roy Keane had the chance to work with Pep Guardiola, he perhaps could have gone down as the greatest defensive midfielder in history.
At Manchester United, the Irishman often played as a box-to-box midfielder in an era where No.6’s were a bit of a rarity.
But with Pep Guardiola’s track record of improving holding midfielders such as Sergio Busquets, Fernandinho and Rodri to name a few, he could have done the same with the Champions League winner.
For starters, Guardiola would perhaps have tasked Keane to play in a more withdrawn role in the middle of the park.
While the former Nottingham Forest dynamo was quite underrated as an all-round player, being coached by the Spaniard would have led to him growing leaps and bounds from a technical perspective as well.
Often, Paul Scholes is credited for dictating play at Manchester United while Roy Keane is hailed for his all-action playing style when the duo played in midfield during the club’s heyday.
But under Pep Guardiola, the ex-Celtic workhorse would have been challenged to play both roles and likely mastered them, knowing his quality to reach unforeseen levels as a holding midfielder.
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