KEANE'S AN EXAMPLE FOR GRADUATES TO FOLLOW

KEANE'S AN EXAMPLE FOR GRADUATES TO FOLLOW

It must be a heart-wrenching decision to leave Manchester United before realising your first-team dream, yet Michael Keane has shown that success can be found away from Old Trafford.

The Academy graduate was called up to the England national team on Tuesday morning as a replacement for the injured Glen Johnson and a reward for his excellent form with Burnley, the club he joined on a permanent transfer in January 2015 following a short loan spell at Turf Moor.

Keane opted to switch to the Clarets at that time in his fledgling career as his opportunities to play regular senior football at United were so limited under the management of Louis van Gaal, who switched between Chris Smalling, Marcos Rojo, Phil Jones and Jonny Evans at centre-back in his first season.

While it was a huge choice for the Stockport lad to depart his boyhood club for pastures new at just 21, it was completely logical and he has since shown that his judgement was sound by emerging as one of the Premier League’s in-form defenders with Sean Dyche’s newly-promoted team.

Keane’s career path highlights the importance of timing in football and its role in making it at United. The cold truth is there must be a space in the first team for any gifted Academy prospect to fill and, sometimes, there are simply better senior players ahead of them at that time in their development.

Marcus Rashford can also talk to you about timing in a positive sense, given that he was only named on the bench for his debut against FC Midtjylland because his senior Academy graduate Will Keane had suffered an injury at Shrewsbury Town days earlier. Anthony Martial’s muscle problem in the warm-up then led to Rashford scoring twice as a late replacement in the starting XI and the rest, as we know, is history.

Michael Keane’s timing was not perfect but many other players suffered that same fate, with the highest profile being Gerard Pique. The Catalan couldn’t get a game at United between 2004 and 2008, mainly because Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand were at their untouchable peak when he was ready to play. He was too good to bide his time on the bench and, thus, returned to Barcelona to realise his potential.

Another relevant case is Tom Heaton, Keane’s Burnley and England team-mate, who never made a competitive Reds appearance with the great Edwin van der Sar ahead of him. Danny Simpson and Danny Drinkwater couldn’t break through at United but recently won the Premier League title with Leicester City, while Ryan Shawcross experienced a similar problem to Pique and has now played under 300 games for Stoke City. Robbie Brady has also forged a successful international career with Republic of Ireland, notably scoring against Italy and France at this summer's European Championship in France.

There are many more names to list and Under-21s manager Warren Joyce, who has been involved with the Academy since 2008, is proud of the players who are impressing away from United. 

“There is a resilience, doggedness, determination and sheer will to win in a Manchester United player and you see our Academy lads having successful careers because of it,” he told Inside United. “Over 50 have left for big money and something like 40 are in the Premier League, with many of them internationals. 

“We don’t shout about it but we should. It’s nice for me to tell the mums and dads about what the experience of United did for them. They know the journey. If you asked Paul Pogba what it was like, what he learned and how he improved, he would tell you. You could do that with 60 to 70 lads.” 

With a flourishing career at Burnley and a first call-up with England, Michael Keane is certainly an example to follow for Academy graduates whose career paths travel away from Old Trafford.