Former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane has revealed he turned down the chance to move to Real Madrid.
In the latest extract from his new autobiography, the Irishman says he took a call from Madrid legend Emilio Butragueno in 2005 while he was sitting on the toilet.
“Look Roy, we’ll be glad to have you. The club’s board just has to sanction the deal,” Butragueno told him.
However, Keane decided to reject the chance of a move to Spain and says he has regretted it ever since.
“I should have appreciated Real’s offer more. It was the most attractive challenge in front of me and I didn’t accept it.
“In hindsight I should have told myself togo to Spain, live there for 18 months, learn the language, learn the culture.'
“But I took a negative approach. The weather and the training might have given me another lease of life, another two years of playing.
“As much as anything else, it was fear that decided me – fear of the unknown,” he confessed.
At 34, Keane admitted he might have struggled by moving to La Liga.
“It's no good playing for a club, it's about having a big influence. Real Madrid might just have wanted someone to do a job, sit in the middle of the park for a few games.
“But I wanted to go in there and have an effect on a team,” he added.
