Roy Keane's Manchester United 'Not Good Enough' List Almost Cleared
Roy Keane’s Manchester United ‘not good enough’ list is almost cleared. Almost.
Three of the four players he publicly hammered have moved on. One is thriving. One has rebuilt quietly. One is still trying to convince. And one, Joshua Zirkzee, is stuck in the kind of limbo that can define a career.
Keane’s verdict – and the fallout
Back in August 2022, after a flat 2-1 home defeat to Brighton, Keane didn’t bother softening the blow. Scott McTominay and Fred had started as the midfield shield for Erik ten Hag. Keane saw enough.
“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. They won't get Manchester United back competing at the top. We see it week in, week out. [They are] not up to it,” he told Sky Sports.
Two years later, the names changed but the tone didn’t. In April 2025, under Ruben Amorim, United laboured to a goalless draw with Manchester City. This time Keane went for the strikers, Rasmus Hojlund and Zirkzee.
“Manchester United can still be more of a goal threat,” he 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?”
United’s response has been ruthless. The squad has turned over, and Keane’s “not good enough” list has been quietly dismantled.
McTominay – from academy kid to Serie A star
Scott McTominay’s story is the most striking. A United player from the age of five, he left in the summer of 2024 for Napoli in a £25 million move that felt, at the time, like a fresh start rather than a step up.
It has turned into a transformation.
Now 29, McTominay didn’t just settle in Italy – he dominated. In his first season under Antonio Conte, he helped drive Napoli to the Serie A title and was named Serie A player of the year. From a lightning rod for criticism at Old Trafford to the standout performer in a title-winning side in one of Europe’s toughest leagues.
Napoli couldn’t retain their crown last season, finishing second behind Inter Milan, but they still lifted the Supercoppa Italiana. McTominay, once written off as a symbol of United’s stagnation, has become a cornerstone of a team that expects to compete for trophies.
Fred – steady, reliable, and winning in Turkey
Fred’s path has been less dramatic but no less solid.
Signed from Shakhtar Donetsk for £47 million in 2018, the Brazilian midfielder had a mixed time at United. He won the League Cup in 2023 and, for long spells, was a regular in the side. The doubts never fully went away, though, and Keane’s 2022 outburst landed squarely on him.
By August 2023, a year after that criticism, Fred moved on, joining Fenerbahce. In Turkey, he has done what he often did at United: turned up, played, and kept his place. Across three seasons he has been a constant presence for the Istanbul club and collected the Turkish Super Cup in 2025.
No reinvention. No dramatic narrative twist. Just a player who left the Premier League glare and quietly built a successful second act.
Hojlund – big fee, big pressure, and a new home in Naples
Rasmus Hojlund’s time at Old Trafford always carried the weight of his price tag. United paid an initial £64 million to bring him in from Atalanta in July 2023, hoping he would become the long-term answer up front.
He never quite did.
The Dane scored 26 goals in 95 appearances – a respectable return but not the explosive tally many expected from a marquee signing. He did get his hands on silverware, playing his part in United’s FA Cup triumph in 2024, but the sense persisted that the fit was never perfect.
By September 2025 he was gone, loaned to Napoli. That move has now become permanent this summer for around £38 million, a clear financial loss for United and a sign of how far his stock had dipped in Manchester.
Italy, again, has been kinder. Hojlund hit 16 goals in his debut season in Serie A and added a Supercoppa Italiana to his collection. Yet even there, the story isn’t straightforward. This pre-season he has struggled to impose himself, his form under the microscope as Napoli weigh up how central he really is to their next step.
Zirkzee – the last man standing, and looking for a way out
That leaves Joshua Zirkzee, the only one of Keane’s criticised quartet still on United’s books – at least for now.
The Dutch forward arrived in 2024 for £36.5 million, a signing that carried promise but not the same fanfare as Hojlund. He has never truly settled. Nine goals in 75 appearances tell the story of a player on the fringes rather than a leading man.
He featured in pre-season, but his future looks elsewhere. With Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo all ahead of him in the pecking order and taking the bulk of the minutes in the forward line, Zirkzee’s opportunities have shrunk.
According to Sky Sport Italia, Juventus want him on a season-long loan. The same reports say the 25-year-old has already given the move his approval, seeing a clearer path to game time in Turin than at Old Trafford.
For United, it would quietly complete a process that started with Keane’s barbed assessments: all four of the players he singled out would be gone. For Zirkzee, it might be the last chance to prove that the pundit’s verdict is not the final word on his career.
