Roy Keane may not be suited to modern football according to ex-Sunderland and Newcastle United player

The former France striker – who enjoyed stints at both Newcastle United and Sunderland during his playing career – played with Keane at Manchester United. Saha left Old Trafford in 2008, and then played for Everton, Tottenham, Sunderland and Lazio before retiring in 2013.

Keane has been linked with a return to management numerous times in the last couple of years and came close to taking the Sunderland job before Alex Neil’s eventual appointment. Keane was also recently touted as a potential replacement for Steve Bruce at West Brom following his dismissal.

“I think Keane should consider a return to management,” Saha told BoyleSports Premier League. “When you are a long-term pundit, sometimes you lose your quality as a manager because they think things are as simple as they see it. It will be good for Keane to see things are harder than what he says in his punditry.

“It will be good to come back to management to realise how hard the job is. With all the respect I have for Keane, I do think he will do well, he knows football, but his mentality might not be suited for modern football, the kids nowadays are not the same.

“Football has changed and he will have to adapt. It will be hard to address things the same way, those are the main points he will have to understand, which I don't think he will find easy. But when you have that much knowledge to share, it's best to share with a team on a daily basis rather than on punditry or exaggerate his opinions.”

Saha continued: “I don’t see why Keane can’t manage Ireland again. Why not? Everyone can improve, he will have understood what has been difficult in management and he'll try to jot repeat any mistakes.

"He has all the qualities to be a great manager, he's a very smart lad and has a great sense of humour. Everyone always thinks he's really tough, but at the same time he's funny, and you can see it in his punditry.”