Roy Keane's Critique: The Rise of McTominay, Fred, and Hojlund

Roy Keane once lined them up and tore into the lot of them. Now, three of that much-maligned quartet have gone, and the last man standing at Manchester United is living on borrowed time.

Back in August 2022, Keane watched a limp 2-1 defeat to Brighton and snapped. Erik ten Hag had paired Scott McTominay and Fred at the base of midfield. Keane saw enough.

“The decision-making and the football intelligence, in particular from Fred – and I've said this for a long time – Fred and McTominay are not good enough,” he told Sky Sports. “They won't get Manchester United back competing at the top. We see it week in, week out. [They are] not up to it.”

Two years later, his crosshairs had shifted further up the pitch. Under Ruben Amorim, United stumbled to a drab goalless draw with Manchester City in April 2025. The lack of threat infuriated him. This time, Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee took the brunt.

“Manchester United can still be more of a goal threat,” Keane said on Sky Sports. “The couple of strikers United have at the club are not good enough for United, but there are other players on the team.

“I’m not saying they all have to be like that – but they have experienced players there. Maguire, Casemiro, Fernandes – do they get a grip of these players?”

United’s hierarchy have since done their own form of gripping. Of the four players Keane publicly questioned, only Zirkzee remains at Old Trafford. And even he is halfway out of the door.

McTominay’s Italian renaissance

For McTominay, the break came in the summer of 2024. A boy who had joined United at five left as a man, heading to Napoli in a £25 million deal that looked, at the time, like a step down.

It hasn’t aged that way.

In his first season in Serie A, the 29-year-old didn’t just settle. He dominated. McTominay drove Antonio Conte’s side to the title and walked away with the Serie A Player of the Year award. The energy that so often felt misused at Old Trafford suddenly had a clear purpose and structure in Naples.

Napoli couldn’t retain the Scudetto last season, finishing second behind Inter Milan, but they did lift the Supercoppa Italiana. McTominay, once a symbol of United’s muddled midfield, has become a cornerstone of an elite Italian side.

Fred finds his rhythm in Turkey

Fred’s Old Trafford story ended earlier. Signed from Shakhtar Donetsk for £47 million in 2018, the Brazilian midfielder had his moments and collected a League Cup winner’s medal in 2023. He also carried the scars of that Brighton defeat and Keane’s verdict.

A year after that criticism, in August 2023, he left for Fenerbahce.

In Turkey, he has found stability. Fred has been a fixture across three seasons, a regular presence in a side expected to win every week. The highlight so far: lifting the Turkish Super Cup in 2025. Not the grandest stage in Europe, but a far cry from the uncertainty that defined his final months at United.

Hojlund: big fee, brief stay

If McTominay and Fred were long-running debates, Hojlund’s time at United felt like a sprint.

United paid an initial £64 million to bring him in from Atalanta in July 2023, betting big on potential. He left with 26 goals in 95 appearances and an FA Cup medal from 2024, but never quite shook off the sense that the club expected more, and expected it faster.

By September 2025, United sent him to Napoli on loan. The move became permanent this summer for around £38 million, a sizeable loss on the original outlay.

On the pitch, his first campaign in Italy showed why clubs keep backing him. Sixteen goals and another Supercoppa Italiana in his pocket. Yet this summer’s pre-season has been a struggle, his impact muted as he tries to convince Napoli he can be their long-term No 9.

The raw tools are still there. The question, as it was in Manchester, is whether someone can turn them into something ruthless.

Zirkzee: the last of Keane’s four

That leaves Zirkzee, the only one of Keane’s “not good enough” quartet still technically a United player – and even that status feels temporary.

Signed for £36.5 million in 2024, the Dutch forward has never truly nailed down a starting spot. Nine goals in 75 appearances in all competitions tells its own story: neat touches, flashes of promise, but not the decisive presence United crave up front.

Pre-season gave him minutes, but not a guarantee. Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo have all been preferred ahead of him in the forward line, squeezing his role to the margins.

Now, the exit route is clear. According to Sky Sport Italia, Juventus want him on a season-long loan and Zirkzee has already given the move his approval. Serie A beckons again for another United forward trying to rebuild his reputation on different soil.

Keane’s words still echo around Old Trafford, but the cast has changed. Three of his targets have gone on to lift trophies and reshape their careers away from Manchester. The fourth is poised to follow.

United, once again, are left asking a familiar question: did they move on the right players, or just the easiest ones?