Former Arsenal midfielder David Hillier has shared his experience of coming up against Manchester United legend, Roy Keane.
Keane, widely regarded as one of the best midfielders the Premier League has ever seen, struck fear into opposition players up and down the country during his time in England.
However, as reported by TalkSPORT, when speaking on the Under The Cosh podcast Hillier gave a rather different view.
Hillier claimed that he found playing against Roy Keane as a ‘dream’ because he ‘wasn’t a clever player’.
Referencing a game he played against Keane, who was at Nottingham Forest at the time, Hillier said “he was my dream player to play against. I camped all over him.”
Hillier, who made 142 appearances for Arsenal during the late 80’s, early 90’s, then said he found Keane easy work due to the Irishman’s lack of footballing intelligence.
“Roy Keane weren’t a clever player when he made runs. He was just direct third man run, that’s all it was. Easy to pick off,” he said.
The former Arsenal midfielder then stated how much fitter he was than Keane and ended with a rather strange anecdote regarding himself and Keane in a nightclub queue.
“Oh I was easily as fit as Roy Keane, easily. I was fitter than Roy Keane.
“I was so fit that when he got stuck at a nightclub when we was out that night and he didn’t get in cause he had trainers on, I ran back to the hotel got him a pair of shoes and came back. He owes me a pair of Gucci loafers if he’s listening”, he said.
Thankfully for United and Keane, not everyone found him as easy to deal with as Hillier.
The United skipper went on to make almost 500 appearances for United, lifting 7 Premier League trophies, 4 FA Cups and 1 Champions League trophy. Keane was also inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame, last year.
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