Roy Keane's Critique: The Fate of His 'Not Good Enough' Quartet

When Roy Keane swings, he rarely misses the headlines. Two years on from his demolition of a Manchester United midfield pairing and a blunt verdict on the club’s strike force, three of the four players he targeted have already walked out of Old Trafford. Only one remains, and even he is edging towards the exit.

Keane’s original blast came in August 2022, in the wreckage of a 2-1 home defeat to Brighton. Erik ten Hag had opened his Premier League reign with Fred and Scott McTominay anchoring the midfield. Keane tore into them on Sky Sports, questioning not just their form but their very suitability for the club.

“The decision-making and the football intelligence, in particular from Fred – and I've said this for a long time – Fred and McTominay are not good enough,” he said. “They won't get Manchester United back competing at the top. We see it week in, week out. [They are] not up to it.”

United stuck with them. Time did not soften Keane’s stance.

By April 2025, with Ruben Amorim in charge and United grinding out a goalless draw against Manchester City, the former captain had a new target. The spotlight shifted up front, where Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund were struggling to convince.

“Manchester United can still be more of a goal threat,” Keane said on Sky Sports. “The couple of strikers United have at the club are not good enough for United, but there are other players on the team.

“I’m not saying they all have to be like that – but they have experienced players there. Maguire, Casemiro, Fernandes – do they get a grip of these players?”

The question hung over the squad. The squad, though, has moved on.

McTominay’s Italian renaissance

Of the four, Scott McTominay has produced the most emphatic answer to Keane’s criticism – not in Manchester, but in Naples.

A United player from the age of five, McTominay left in the summer of 2024 in a £25 million deal to Napoli. At 29, he arrived in Serie A with something to prove. He did far more than that.

In his first season under Antonio Conte, McTominay drove Napoli to the Scudetto and walked away with the Serie A Player of the Year award. From a player once written off as a symbol of United’s stagnation, he became the heartbeat of an Italian champion.

Napoli could not retain the title last season, finishing second behind Inter Milan, but they still lifted the Supercoppa Italiana. McTominay, once derided as “not good enough”, now stands as one of the league’s standout midfielders.

Fred finds stability and silverware in Turkey

Fred’s path has been quieter but no less steady.

Signed by United from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2018 for £47 million, the Brazilian midfielder endured a turbulent spell in England, caught between managerial changes and tactical resets. He still collected a League Cup winners’ medal in 2023 and was a regular right up until his departure.

A year after Keane’s 2022 tirade, Fred left for Fenerbahce in August 2023. In Turkey, he has become a constant presence across three seasons, a mainstay in a side that expects to challenge every year. The reward came in 2025 with the Turkish Super Cup.

At 33, he is far from the chaotic figure often portrayed during his United days. In Istanbul, he is trusted, settled and decorated.

Hojlund: big fee, mixed return, new chapter

Rasmus Hojlund’s United story always carried the weight of his price tag.

The Dane arrived from Atalanta in July 2023 for an initial £64 million, billed as the long-term No. 9. The numbers never quite matched the expectation. Across 95 appearances in all competitions, he scored 26 goals – a respectable return, but not the transformative output United craved from their marquee striker.

He did have his moments. Hojlund helped United to the FA Cup in 2024 and showed flashes of the raw, aggressive forward that attracted them in the first place. Consistency, though, eluded him.

By September 2025, the club sent him on loan to Napoli. The move became permanent this summer for around £38 million, handing United a significant loss on their investment but giving Hojlund a fresh start in a league that has already revived one of Keane’s former targets.

His first season in Italy brought 16 goals and another Supercoppa Italiana. The foundation is there. Yet this pre-season, he has struggled to impose himself, still fighting to turn promise into dominance in a new environment.

Zirkzee: last man standing, and likely leaving

That leaves Joshua Zirkzee – the final name on Keane’s hit list and the only one still officially on United’s books.

For how much longer is another matter.

Zirkzee joined United in 2024 for £36.5 million, a technically gifted Dutch striker expected to grow into a leading role. It has not happened. Across all competitions he has managed just nine goals in 75 appearances, never quite forcing his way to the front of the queue.

Pre-season offered a brief window to impress, but the reality of United’s attacking depth has closed around him. Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo are all ahead of him in the pecking order, taking the minutes and the trust that Zirkzee craves.

According to Sky Sport Italia, Juventus are now pushing for a season-long loan. The report claims the 25-year-old has already given the green light to a move that would reunite him with Serie A and offer the regular football that has eluded him in England.

If that deal goes through, Keane’s “not good enough” quartet will all have left Old Trafford behind, scattered across Italy and Turkey, each rewriting their own story away from the club that once defined them.

The question now is not whether Keane was right about them, but whether United have finally found the players who are.