LOUIS SAHA has admitted that he could see his former teammate Roy Keane back in the Republic of Ireland fold in the future.
Back in the day, Keane took up an assistant role with the Ireland seniors from 2013 to 2018, alongside Martin O' Neill.
Ireland under Keane and O'Neill qualified for the European Championship in 2016. It got even better for Ireland as they got out of the group thanks a late winner against Italy
They were knocked out by defeated finalists France in the following round.
Shortly after Keane and O'Neill left their roles with Ireland by mutual consent in 2018.
"We're not here to make friends" — Sky Sports Retro (@SkySportsRetro) July 6, 2021
Roy Keane ahead of Ireland's Euro 2016 match against Italy. pic.twitter.com/3BxhOOxNqs
Since then, Keane has worked in pundit roles for Sky and ITV. He's also been linked back to return to full time job in football.
Some of these jobs include the likes of his old club Sunderland, West Brom, and various other clubs, but he's not had a managerial/coach role since his job for Ipswich 2009-2011. Every other role has been a sidekick role.
Saha believes that Keane should look to return to the touchline. Despite his well-known temper, Saha feels that Keane would have the minerals for the job long-term as he's highly experienced in football.
"I think Keane should consider a return to management. 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," said the Frenchman speaking to BoyleSports Football
"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 believes that Keane's next role could be the with the Ireland team again.
"I don’t see why Keane can’t manage Ireland again. Why not," he added.
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.
If he did want the job then Keane would have to wait for the current Ireland boss Stephen Kenny to either get sacked or leave his role with Ireland, and that's not realistic with Euro 2024. fast approaching.
They took the team to the last 16 at Euro 2016. — BBC Sport (@BBCSport) November 21, 2018
But now manager Martin O'Neill and his assistant Roy Keane have parted company with the Republic of Ireland.
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