Keane's Long Wait May Soon Be Over

Away from a footballing media world increasingly succumbing to insatiable hyperbole, where every comment, action or opinion is spun into a sensational story, Will Keane's tale at Manchester United is perhaps a more realistic one in terms of what it means to be a young player trying to break into a top-flight side.

The 23-year-old spearheaded the Reds to our last FA Youth Cup triumph in 2011, scoring a hat-trick in the semi-final against Chelsea at Old Trafford, and was handed his senior debut by Sir Alex Ferguson at the end of that calendar year.

Disaster then struck when Keane suffered anterior cruciate ligament damage to his knee while representing England Under-19s at the end of the 2011/12 season. He did not return to action until September 2013, when he scored against Bolton Wanderers for the Under-21s, but it would take even longer to get back to his best.

When I sat down with Will in October of the following year, he already appeared mentally stronger after his injury ordeal. The teenager I'd first interviewed alongside his twin brother Mike, soon after his first-team breakthrough when I enjoyed his wide-eyed excitement at reliving the moment of his substitution against Blackburn Rovers, had inevitably matured.

Keane had sported a full beard when I bumped into him during his recovery at the Aon Training Complex, kicking around with a few kids while watching the Manchester United Premier Cup, and the youthful enthusiasm was being gradually replaced by a steely determination to succeed with his boyhood idols and overcome a lengthy absence from the game just when his career was set to take off.

Brother Mike moved on to Burnley to obtain regular first-team football and is also very talented. In my opinion, it is only a matter of time before he is back in the Barclays Premier League - hopefully with the Clarets. For Will, he had a loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday last season before linking up with Preston North End for the start of this campaign.

He has never wavered in his belief that he could force his way into the United team. Despite showing encouraging signs with his all-round play, his goalscoring return was surprisingly low given his pedigree for finding the net in United's younger sides. Four years to the day since Sir Alex Ferguson gave him the shout to replace Rafael against Blackburn, he returned from the Deepdale stint and knew he had to work overtime to impress Louis van Gaal.

The Reds boss has stressed it was the purpose of the recall for Keane to force his way into the first team here, even if the competition includes a man on the brink of becoming the club's all-time record scorer and somebody voted the finest Under-21 player in Europe. It seemed a long shot and lesser individuals could easily have faded into the background, sulked at being asked to play for the Under-21s again and accepted a career lies away from United.

Instead, Keane has got into top shape and scored so many goals for Warren Joyce's free-flowing team that he has become impossible to ignore. When van Gaal was in the stands on Monday to see the striker execute the most wonderful of chips for the fourth of his five-goal haul against Norwich City, he cannot fail to have been impressed. Sat nearby in the press box, I broke into applause without consciously doing it because it was genuinely that sort of strike.

A tally of 10 goals in seven games, in addition to a number of assists, has forced Keane into the reckoning again and led to some fans wondering if he can emulate Harry Kane at Tottenham Hotspur in terms of taking a belated opportunity at first-team level with remarkable relish.

Nobody knows if that can be the case but I sincerely hope Will is selected by van Gaal soon - his inclusion in the squad for Saturday's league game at Sunderland is a huge step in the right direction and, of course, he has already been on the bench for the Emirates FA Cup tie against Sheffield United.

Will Keane's slow rise to where he would have been but for his serious injury (Sir Alex had promised he would be involved in the senior squad for 2012/13) is not a saga suited to the current climate of lauding instant success and criticising the slightest of failures, nor the endless debate about things that might or might not happen. It is a tale of a long, hard slog behind the scenes at the Aon Training Complex and an inner belief that surely has been seriously tested over such a long period.

Above all, it is a football story and one that occurs to many players and most clubs as a promising player has to overcome a lengthy spell on the sidelines. I am sure I am not alone in wishing there is a fairytale ending and not purely because Will Keane is yet another example of exactly the sort of footballer and character Manchester United pride themselves on producing.

The opinions expressed in this article are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Manchester United.

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