'You can't do that...' - Roy Keane opens up on reason behind collapsed Sunderland transfer for mystery player

Roy Keane has revealed that he failed to complete a transfer for an unnamed goalkeeper during his time as Sunderland manager because the player insisted on bringing his own personal coach with him to the Stadium of Light.

The Irishman was in charge of the Black Cats for a two-year spell between 2006 and 2008, and enjoyed a decent amount of success on Wearside, guiding the club to promotion and keeping them in the Premier League at the first time of asking. But in a recent episode of The Overlap podcast, Keane opened up on a bizarre episode in which one proposed transfer collapsed because of the demands of the player involved. During a discussion with guest Wayne Rooney, it was revealed that former Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea had brought his own coach with him to Old Trafford when he initially signed for the club. In response, Keane said: “That's the problem with goalkeepers. 

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“I remember I tried to sign a player years ago when I was at Sunderland, and as part of the deal, he wanted to bring his own goalkeeping coach because he had him at [his old] club. They become mates, you see, and they play golf together and all that. And I said, ‘No... I've already got a really good goalkeeper coach. And sometimes, actually, it'd be good for you to have a different voice to hear’.

“He went, ‘We're not doing the deal’. He wants to bring his goalkeeping coach with him; that's the other issue you have with goalkeepers - they become mates with people. I had a really good goalkeeping coach. Why would I bring another goalkeeping coach? “

Fellow pundit Gary Neville agreed with Keane’s stance, adding: “You can't undermine your goalkeeper coach and sack him just because a goalkeeper wants to bring another goalkeeping coach. Seriously, if he wants to bring his own goalkeeping coach in, and you've got one there, you can't sack your goalkeeping coach.”

Ian Wright then weighed in on the matter, cheekily suggesting that Keane should have signed the unspecified goalkeeper anyway, to which the ex-Black Cats boss responded: “You're being childish now. You're not being serious, are you? No, you can't do that. Jesus Christ.”