Category: Football

Manchester United legend Roy Keane is closing on a return to the Premier League with Paul Lambert keen to bring the fiery Irishman as his assistant manager at Aston Villa.

According to reports, Keane is close to making his decision about the move and he is eager for the appointment to happen as soon as possible as well. The former Ireland skipper has had previous stints as manager with Sunderland and Ipswich Town and he is currently working under Martin O’Neill as the assistant boss with the Republic of Ireland national team.

Keane is expected to continue in that role and is expected to be announced as Scottish manager’s number two before the players return for pre-season training on the 7^th of July.

The fiery Irishman was scheduled to travel to Brazil as part of an expert panel for ITV Sport but pulled out from the panel on short notice as reports emerged about his impending return to club football. Keane was, at one point, the bookmakers’ favorite to land the managerial job at his beloved Celtic after the departure of Neil Lennon but he pulled out of the race in favor of a return to the Premier League with Aston Villa.

The Villa Park club sacked their previous assistant managers towards the end of last season citing problems with their behavior and placed goalkeeper Shay Given and club legend Gordon Cowans in temporary charge.

It is being believed that the choice of Roy Keane was entirely the decision of Villa manager Paul Lambert who believes the Irishman will help in adding stability to the backroom.

Aston Villa is currently in the process of trying to sell the club and he believes the appointment of Keane will add more value as he tries to make maximum profit from the sale of the club.

Paul Lambert’s season has been under scrutiny pressure and criticism from the fans of the club which want him out of Aston Villa. During the majority of the campaign, the team of Lambert was trying to get out of the relegation spots and just barely was able of escaping it.

The future of the Scottish coach remains unclear as he has already released statements of his desire of being in charge of the Premier League club for the upcoming seasons but everything will be decided on whether or not Randy Lerner wants to sell Aston Villa during the summer.

When Lambert was asked about the owner, Lambert told Sky Sports: “What he’s going to say in the next six or seven days I really don’t know. This club has got to be stronger. It’s too big a club.”

“I would love to be. It’s a brilliant club with a fabulous fan base. Any club that wins a European Cup creates history and tradition and this club has got it in abundance. This team has got to live up to it and at the minute we haven’t done it. My job is to protect this club and I’ve done that. Getting this club safe and still in the Premier League is the greatest thing I’ve done. I had some good times at Norwich but keeping this club up is the best achievement’’.

Lambert has no intentions of leaving Aston Villa anytime soon but his position in the club will be decided if the billionaire of the Premier League club will sell it as the American entrepreneur announced the possibility of it becoming a reality a few days ago and his final decision is expected to be made in a few weeks.