One of the most legendary teams in football history is the Manchester United treble-winning side of 1998/99. Led by the most successful British manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, the squad was full of icons, many of whom are considered some of the best to ever grace the game.
They became the first-ever English side to win the treble, completing the achievement dramatically, with Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær scoring stoppage time goals to beat Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final.
There was plenty of home-grown talent in the team, with players from the esteemed Class of ‘92 littered throughout the side. This included the likes of Paul Scholes, who made 716 appearances for United over 19 years, and David Beckham, who represented the Red Devils on 394 occasions.
Not only that, United have several stars who they signed from other clubs. Deadly centre-forward duo Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole were acquired from Aston Villa and Newcastle respectively, whilst the likes of Jaap Stam were brought in from overseas.
However, there was one player, also an export from within the Premier League, who became United’s club captain, and one of the Red Devil’s greatest ever players.
Roy Keane’s Man Utd career in numbers
Roy Keane Keane was United captain for eight years between 1997 and 2005, and many supporters of the club consider him one of the best leaders in their history. During his tenure as captaincy, United won ten trophies, including the treble. However, Keane won a total of 17 trophies during his time at Old Trafford.
The former Ireland international made 479 appearances for United in total, which ranks him tenth on their list of all-time top appearance-makers. To put into context just how good the 1999 treble side was, three of Keane’s teammates from that era also make up the top ten.
In total, he scored 51 goals and registered 39 assists for the Red Devils, and whilst that was not his main responsibility, he chipped in with more than his fair share of goals during his time at Old Trafford.
Keane was a tenacious ball-winner, not afraid to get stuck into challenges, and not one to back down from a challenge. His famous midfield battles against Patrick Vieira of Arsenal are the perfect example of this. The Irishman was an absolutely relentless player and never stopped running for his side.
On the ball, Keane was a superb passer, able to pick out players with ease. He particularly excelled with line-breaking passes, something which often goes under the radar about his game because of the reputation he had.
One of his best games came in the 1999 Champions League semi-final second leg against Juventus. He picked up an early yellow card, meaning he would miss the final if United made it, but that did not stop him working hard for his side and scoring the first goal which inspired United to the win.
He was once described by his midfield partner Scholes as “unbelievable to play alongside” before United’s former number 18 described some of the aforementioned leadership Keane was famed for, explaining how he “drove us on” countless times.
But, just how much would he be worth in a modern transfer market? We have the answer.
How much Roy Keane would be worth in 2024
In 1993, when United signed Keane from Nottingham Forest, they broke the British transfer record. They paid £3.75m for the Irishman, beating the previous record which was Alan Shearer, who joined Blackburn from Southampton for £3.6m.
Whilst that set the British transfer record over 30 years ago, if Keane had joined United today, that transfer would have been roughly worth an extraordinary £118m, according to a conversion tool from The Transfer Index.
Totally Money have taken the 100 most expensive transfers of all time across each season since 1992 in Europe's top five leagues. Armed with plenty of historical financial data they have calculated what footballers of yesteryear would be worth in the present day after taking into account the remarkable rate of inflation.
That is a deal that would have eclipsed the £115m that Chelsea paid Brighton last summer to acquire the services of Ecuadorian international Moises Caicedo and also the £105m Arsenal paid to sign midfield master Declan Rice. It would have been their third most expensive transfer of all time, beating the deals PSG conducted to sign Neymar from Barcelona for £200m, and Kylian Mbappe from Monaco for £166m.
Keane’s transfer to Manchester United was worth more than any other player in the current Red Devils squad. The most valuable player in Erik ten Hag’s side today is Marcus Rashford, who is reportedly valued at £100m amid claims that United could sell the attacker soon. Young stars Rasmus Hojlund and Alejandro Garnacho, meanwhile, are estimated to be worth £85.5m by CIES Football Observatory.
All things considered, United signing Keane is one of the best pieces of business that the club have ever done. He was the heartbeat of their midfield, won countless trophies and led from the front phenomenally. He will go down as one of the greatest midfielders in Premier League history.
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