Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane boldly claimed that one of his former Manchester United teammates would be worth an eye-watering £2bn in the modern transfer market.
Keane played alongside a roster of legendary players during his time at Old Trafford, including Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand.
The 52-year-old Irishman was a key figure in Sir Alex Ferguson’s United teams of the past and excelled as captain, with Keane also serving as a formidable midfield figure.
Keane’s run at Old Trafford came to an end in 2005 after Ferguson axed him from the club, with the Irish hardman recalling his brutal meeting with the United legend.
The former United skipper played for Celtic before he called it time on his legendary career, with Keane later opening up on an embarrassing regret that he had.
Keane was a British record transfer at the time of his move to United, with the Red Devils splashing out a £3.75m fee to sign him from Nottingham Forest in 1993.
However, the United legend previously voiced his disappointment at the eye-watering sums of money thrown around in the modern transfer market.
READ MORE: Roy Keane named his most ‘overrated’ teammate of all time and stunned Man Utd legend with his pick
Keane’s price tag for three ex-United teammates
While he was Republic of Ireland assistant manager, Keane criticised transfer fees being paid out at the time and called it “mind-boggling” to see the figures.
The ex-United star was baffled at how average players would be “going for £30-40m” and said that it made him “scratch” his head at the price tags players had.
During a press conference in 2017, a reporter asked Keane how much he would value his former teammates and the Irishman didn’t hold back with his valuations.
Keane claimed that United legends Ruud van Nistelrooy and David Beckham would both be worth £1bn, with Ryan Giggs being worth £2bn in his eyes.
When asked how much his ex-teammates would be worth, he responded: “The players I played with? Which players? Who [are] you talking about?
“Ruud would certainly be worth in the market now probably a billion.
“A billion [for Beckham]. Two billion [for Giggs].”
When he was asked how much he would be worth, Keane said: “£3.75m, I think.”
Giggs’ response to Keane’s £2bn value
Giggs spent his entire club playing career at Old Trafford and United legend Gary Neville revealed the Welshman was a key locker-room figure for Ferguson.
The 50-year-old former Wales manager enjoyed incredible success at United, including lifting 13 Premier League titles and two Champions League trophies.
Giggs was asked about Keane’s high praise after he put a £2bn price tag on him and the United legend hilariously said his ex-teammate “always spoke a lot of sense.”
“He’s always spoke a lot of sense, Roy,” he said in 2017, before laughing (via BeanymanSports).
“I don’t know about £2bn, but I think Roy’s point was that now you’re seeing average players go for massive sums.
“You look back at some of the players that we played with. I mean, what would they be worth now?
“Ruud van Nistelrooy, just an unbelievable goalscorer. What would he be worth now? Where you’re just guaranteed goals every season, so I think that’s the point that Roy was trying to make and he’s right because it’s just ridiculous now.
“And it doesn’t look like it’s stopping – it looks like it’s going up.”
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