Roy Keane has insisted that he is still in disagreement with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer over two players during his former Manchester United teammate’s managerial spell.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is in charge of Besiktas and the Turkish side is the Manchester United legend’s first management role since his Old Trafford exit in 2021.
The 52-year-old Norwegian, who was appointed head coach of the Super Lig club in 2025, made his sensational return to United in 2018 as caretaker manager.
Jose Mourinho had been sacked as United manager in the 2018-19 season and United legend Solskjaer was initially brought in to steady the ship at Old Trafford.
But a successful run of matches saw the Besiktas boss permanently succeed Jose Mourinho, who is now at Super Lig side Fenerbahce, as United manager in 2019.
Solskjaer’s reign as United manager ended without any major silverware and the ex-Red Devils star was ultimately sacked in 2021 after a poor start to the season.
The ex-Molde and Cardiff City boss did lead the Red Devils to second place in the Premier League in 2021 and United also reached the 2021 Europa League final.
Roy Keane did not see eye to eye with fellow Man Utd legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on ‘McFred’ at Old Trafford
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was met with criticism during his Manchester United reign for his overreliance on the infamous ‘McFred’ midfield partnership at Old Trafford.
The United manager deployed Scott McTominay and Fred in the heart of midfield and the Red Devils struggled to make a real impact with the McFred combination.
Roy Keane was a vocal critic of the McFred partnership and the Sky Sports pundit once again admitted that Solskjaer’s praise for the pair was “beyond” him.
However, the 53-year-old legendary former United captain admitted that he did think there was always “something” about Scott McTominay that stood out.
Speaking on The Overlap’s Stick to Football show, Keane said: “What didn’t help Scott was it was him and Fred together. It just wasn’t a good combo.
“I know Ole praises both of them – which is beyond me – I always thought there was something in Scott.
“He had more than Fred going on, but as a partnership, it didn’t work, it wasn’t happening, United weren’t competing in midfield.
“It tarnished him a little bit, ‘McFred’ wasn’t it. He’s added to his game, to be fair to him.
“He’s always had a goal in him, but he’s got that up to another level. If he wasn’t scoring the goals at Napoli, we wouldn’t be talking about him.”
Roy Keane makes his feelings clear on Scott McTominay after former Man Utd star’s Old Trafford exit to Napoli
The infamous ‘McFred’ midfield partnership came to an end under ex-Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag and former United midfielder Fred signed for Fenerbahce in 2023.
Scott McTominay would leave United in 2024 and the 28-year-old Scottish midfielder went on to sign for Serie A outfit Napoli last summer in a £25.7m transfer.
Keane admitted that he is not convinced that McTominay would have been a regular starter at United, despite the Scotland international’s impressive form at Napoli.
“But you can’t keep talking about players who leave a big club and say we should have kept them,” Keane continued.
“You can’t keep everyone. I think McTominay could have been in the group, 100 per cent.
“But playing every week? I’m talking about the players you need to get United back to the top.
“They haven’t brought in better, which is the problem for the club. United’s recruitment has been that poor that you still talk about former players.”
McTominay has scored 12 times for Napoli and picked up six assists in 34 matches across all competitions for the Serie A side in his debut season in Italy.
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