Further testimony to the emerging talent of Robbie Keane, the Republic of Ireland and Wolverhampton Wanderers player, was forthcoming yesterday from his namesake, Roy Keane.
In the course of an RTE radio interview, the Manchester United player said that he expected Robbie Keane, who celebrated his 18th birthday just three weeks ago, to become a world class player by the time he is 23 or 24.
"I watched him in the game against Argentina and was very impressed," he said. "Overall, I think the future is very bright for Irish football with many good players coming through from the under age teams.
"It's going to take time for them to develop and in the meantime, there is a lot of hard work to be done. I believe that we should now be thinking about qualifying for the next World Cup."
Roy confessed that captaining the Republic of Ireland team is "something I'd like to do again. I let myself down by getting sent off on the only occasion I captained the side against Russia but I'm older and wiser now".
He said that at 26, he now believed that he was stronger and fitter than at any stage of his career and looked forward to winning at least one trophy with Manchester United during the coming season.
Meanwhile, Wolves had no comment to make yesterday on reports that Arsenal's manager, Arsene Wenger is among those monitoring the progress of the younger Keane.
Stating that the player is still in mid-contract, a spokesman said there had been a lot of speculation about a possible move but it was not the club's policy to comment on such situations. Last season, Mark McGhee, Wolves manager, was quoted as pricing the young Dubliner at £4 m plus.
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