Burnley’s Michael Keane faces brother Will after the tables turn in duel of ex-Manchester United siblings
Clarets' £25m-rated defender tackles the Hull hitman, having replaced him as the bruv most likely to become an England ace
WILL KEANE was always the one expected to become the household name in the family.
Nobody knew that more than twin brother Michael as the pair worked their way up through Manchester United’s Old Trafford academy as 11 year olds.
Will was ear-marked as the kid for fame and fast–tracked by Sir Alex Ferguson to become United’s next star striker.
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Michael was the centre-half who some within the club cruelly saw only as a makeweight, there as much as anything else just to help keep his twin happy.
Yet today it will be Michael, now in the centre of Burnley’s defence, who will be out on the pitch against Hull — Will’s current team — looking to the kind of golden future once predicted for his brother.
Next month Michael could make his full England debut having twice figured in Gareth Southgate’s squads.
He is valued at £25million with Chelsea and Everton ready to start the bidding this summer.
Rio Ferdinand, one of his heroes at United, believes he could do a “Pogba” and go back to Old Trafford, having been sold for £2.5m two-and-a-half years ago.
Will would have been facing him today were he fit . . . except he is three months into another year out after a second cruciate knee ligament injury.
The first, picked up playing for England’s U-21s in 2012, effectively ruined his Old Trafford dream and he became a £1m cast-off last summer.
The second, suffered against Southampton in November have put his chances of ever making it as a Premier League player at stake.
And nobody feels worse for him than Michael.
“When he got that second cruciate it was all pretty much teary – eyed in our house.
“The first was bad enough but the second left all of us gutted for him – it all seemed so unfair.
“When you see someone so naturally talented as him suffer like that it is hard – hard for him, hard for me and my other two brothers, hard for my mum and dad.
“There is something unfair about it in a way but it is also life and I made up my mind – like we all did – to be strong for him.
“There were those teary moments but then it was about supporting him, not letting him see we were all a bit down for him.
“Luckily he’s a very positive person and he’s cheerful and the surgeon says everything is looking just fine.”
It would have been understandable had Michael felt a tiny twinge of envy growing up at the way Will was given the special treatment by some at United.
Even a twin might now be experiencing a secret sense that their role reversal has proved everybody wrong about how things would turn out.
But there is only brotherly love as he declares: “I never did feel any jealousy towards Will.
“Now I just want to help him all I can.
“When we were younger I always knew Will was the star striker and the one marked for fame.
“I was ‘just’ a centre-half – that was the way it was, all the way through school, all through our time at United.
“He was always special and I was never what he was.
“Will was a natural with unbelievable touch, finishing, speed - I knew I had to slog away and work harder than anyone to try to make it.
The 24-year-olds faced each other as Premier League players for the first time early in the season when Will came on as a sub to make his Tigers debut at Turf Moor.
This time they can meet only in the players’ lounge along with the rest of the Keane family.
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But Michael adds: “A few more months recovery and hopefully Hull stay up, and we will be up against each other again.
“Will still has it in him to be a star and if he makes it no one will be happier about it than me.
“He deserves it. He always did.”
There is compassion in his eyes when he talks about Will but there is also grit there, for Michael firmly believes that he belongs at the top.
He says: "Burnley have been brilliant for me but one day I want to be playing at a club on the same level as United."
That way, at least one of the Keane brothers will indeed be a household name beyond their own household even if in the end it might be Michael who makes it and not Will.