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Roy Keane to quit at end of next season
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-12 14:38 Roy Keane will quit football
when his contract with Manchester United expires at the end of next season.
The Irish midfielder is playing some of the best football of a trophy-rich
career and there had been speculation that he might be persuaded to carry on
beyond 2006.
But Keane, who fears he might need hip replacement surgery once his playing
days are over, insisted that he had no plans to extend his current contract.
"I feel good," the 33-year-old said. "My hip feels good, my left knee was a
bit sore but overall I am not too bad. Mentally I am enjoying my football.
"But when I signed my current contract I believed it would be last playing
contract and I still believe that to be the case."
If Keane does retire in 2006, his swansong could come at the World Cup in
Germany.
Ireland are well-placed to qualify for the finals and Keane has unfinished
business with his country after walking out on Mick McCarthy's squad prior to
the last World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
United manager Alex Ferguson is bound to greet the news with a sense of
disappointment, although the canny Scot will not have totally given up hope of
losing his talisman, who has confounded the critics who had written him off
before the season started.
Over the past month alone, Keane has rampaged over heir apparent Steven
Gerrard at Anfield, and squared up to Patrick Vieira in the Highbury tunnel in
show of aggressive force that set the tone for Manchester United's superb 4-2
win.
He then capped an exceptional display against Birmingham last week by netting
his 50th goal for the Red Devils.
Such has been the magnitude of those performances, suggestions were being
raised that Keane would be offered a new contract.
However, the Republic of Ireland international has revealed he is not looking
to extend his stay at Old Trafford beyond 2006, meaning he could end his career
at the World Cup, four years after he memorably walked out on the last one.
After being forced to overcome a major hip operation and cruciate knee
ligament surgery, Keane may count himself fortunate to be playing at all, let
alone the standard he is currently reaching.
Typically though, the Cork-born star is not entirely satisfied with his
contribution, although he did admit the balance between playing matches and rest
is better this season than it was 12 months ago, when he became frustrated at
the number of games he was missing.
"I feel I'm doing OK but you always feel there is room for improvement," he
said. "I prefer to look back at the end of the season, not when you've got three
months to go but I do feel good in myself.
"We have probably got the balance right this year on the medical side of
things.
"We have a big squad, so it's only right I miss the odd game here and there
but I have felt fresh and physically good in the ones I have played in."
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