Roy Keane has poured cold water on the idea that Lewis Hall could solve Manchester United’s problems at left-back, insisting the Newcastle youngster “is not the answer” for a club still scrambling to fix its back line.
United spent the final stretch of the transfer window chasing a left-back after front-loading their summer business in midfield. The shortlist was ambitious. Newcastle’s Hall, Barcelona’s Alejandro Balde, RB Leipzig’s David Raum, Racing Santander’s Jorge Salinas and Man City’s Rayan Ait-Nouri were all mentioned as options as the clock ticked down.
There was even a moment when Hall looked like a realistic possibility. Newcastle were said to be open to a sale, but United backed away once a £75m price tag came into view. Late on, attention swung towards Ait-Nouri, with reports of a late approach to City in a bid to get something done before the deadline slammed shut.
It never happened. No left-back arrived. And the optics, for a club of United’s size, were ugly.
“Was it sloppy with the Rayan Ait-Nouri one, to get dragged into that with two hours to go? It’s not a great look is it?”
On The Overlap, Gary Neville did not sugar-coat it. Roy Keane, sat alongside him, saw the same desperation seeping out of Old Trafford on deadline day.
“For a club like United, you shouldn’t be getting too desperate with two hours to go,” the former United captain said. “Having said that, some mad deals have happened previously in the last minute and it’s worked out well for the club, not just for United, so I think that’s the industry. I wouldn’t be too hard on them but the problem is that when you get desperate at the end.”
If United were ever truly tempted to pay big for Hall, Keane’s verdict on the Newcastle man was blunt.
“I don’t think Hall is the answer. He’s not bad, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I don’t think he’s a good defender.”
That last line cuts to the heart of Keane’s wider frustration with how modern full-backs are judged. He has little time for the idea that being slick in possession can mask defensive flaws.
“We’re going back to that [conversation]: what’s your priority in a defender now?” he continued. “Of course you want him to be comfortable in possession, of course, but first and foremost, they can defend because that’s what your challenge is now.
“Whatever it is with your attacking players, ‘Listen lads, two midfielders and an attacking four, go and win us the game’, but we’ve got to be solid defensively, even if it’s sacrificing being good on the ball.”
United now head into the season still light in a position they spent all summer talking about, armed with a legend’s warning that the next left-back through the door must be a defender first, stylist second.
