Manchester United legend Roy Keane admitted to Ian Wright that a forgotten Premier League winger was someone he “struggled” against in his legendary playing career.
Roy Keane has become one of the leading faces in punditry for Sky Sports after he called it time on his coaching and managerial career.
Despite his ill-fated time in management, Keane is still widely revered for his incredible exploits in his illustrious playing spell at Manchester United.
A commanding box-to-box midfielder in his prime, the 52-year-old Irishman excelled as club captain after he succeeded Eric Cantona as United skipper.
Keane, who has refused to rule out a possible return to management, was a linchpin figure in United’s legendary teams of the past under ex-manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
The Sky Sports pundit is widely regarded as one of the best captains of all time, as well as one of the best midfielders in the history of football.
Despite his incredible impact at Old Trafford, Keane’s spell at the club came to an end in 2005 after his relationship with United legend Sir Alex Ferguson fractured.
The former United captain saw out the remainder of his playing career at Scottish side Celtic – one of two teams he supports – before retiring from football in 2006.
Man Utd legend Keane names toughest winger
During his time at Old Trafford, Roy Keane lifted an impressive seven Premier League titles and captained Manchester United to their iconic treble win in 1999.
The United legend has opened up about his playing career after he hung up his boots, including naming two of the toughest opponents he faced on the pitch.
However, Keane insisted that one legendary former player was without question the toughest overall footballer he came up against in his illustrations playing career.
The former Republic of Ireland and United skipper appeared on the latest episode of the Stick to Football show alongside Gary Neville, Ian Wright and Jill Scott.
Speaking on The Overlap show, Keane recalled his experience of playing at right-back early in his United career after he was signed from Nottingham Forest.
The former Nottingham Forest star admitted that former Manchester City and Everton winger Peter Beagrie was a player that he struggled against as a full-back.
Keane said: “You know who I struggled against? I played against City. Was it Beagrie? Yeah, he was…”
When Gary Neville asked if he was “chopping” him back and forth, Keane simply responded: “Yeah.”
Ian Wright then quizzed Keane on the toughest winger he faced, with the United legend once again naming Beagrie as his main choice.
Neville on Keane playing at right-back
Neville, who was a famed member of United’s ‘Class of ‘92,’ came through the youth academy and established himself as Ferguson’s first-choice right-back in his career.
The United legend recalled his experience of coming through the ranks at United and how he had to report back to his youth team coach about what he saw from a right-back.
“Roy came in 1993, I was 18, so I was literally watching the right-back,” he said.
“Our youth team coach made us watch the [first-team] right-backs.
“We used to have to go and report to our youth team coach on the Monday after [a match], he’d ask us questions about who played at right-back, who played at centre-back, how did they, how do you think they played?
“I would watch the right-back. He [Keane] played about 10-15 games at right-back.”