Will Keane has said the injuries he suffered after making his Manchester United debut cost him the chance to establish himself at Old Trafford, and he is now fighting to keep his career going at 33 as a free agent.
The former United and Preston North End forward has spent the last five weeks at PFA pre-season camp as he looks for a new club after his contract at Preston expired in the summer.
Manchester United dream disrupted by serious knee injury
Keane came through United's renowned academy and made his first-team debut in December 2011, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 3-2 home defeat to Blackburn Rovers. He returned to the Under-21s for the rest of that season before rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) while on England Under-19 duty in May 2012.
Aged 19 at the time, Keane missed the entire 2012/13 season. He returned for United's U21s in September 2013 and then had loan spells at Wigan Athletic (cut short by a groin injury), QPR, Sheffield Wednesday and Preston, either side of being given another first-team chance by Louis van Gaal. He made two further substitute appearances for United - in the Premier League at Sunderland and in the FA Cup at Shrewsbury - before being sold to Hull City for £1million in August 2016.
Reflecting on his United career, Keane told Mirror Football: "I look back now and it was the best place to come through the ranks and have that development. I was lucky to have a strong squad as a whole."
"At the time, the feeling was that a lot of us would go and break in and get around the first team, which a few did and stayed there for a long time. I loved it. I think the whole education, enjoying going in every day. It was a great place to learn our trade and to make that transition from academy to reserves. And then I think the coaches we had at the time were all brilliant."
"I see now even a lot of lads are going on to have great careers. I think you've seen it at United, haven't you, over the years? It's been like a conveyor belt. The aim is to always play, but if you don't, lads are still on to have great careers. It was the perfect place to be."
'It kind of killed me' - the injury that changed everything
Keane believes the ACL injury came at the worst possible moment. "It's all ifs, buts and maybes, so there's no saying that I would have stayed there and played a lot more. But I think in football, a lot of it is timing, isn't it? I was quite unfortunate that I did have a bad knee injury at the time, which I'd just made my debut, and then it was the last game of the season."
"I did my ACL and then I ended up being out for 15 or 16 months, so it was a long time when it was probably a key part of the transition and getting around the squad. So obviously that hindered my progression then, and even then when I got back, it took time to get myself going, so that didn't help. And then I did it again, even when I left United and I went to Hull in the Premier League, played a few games and ended up redoing it. So then that was another year out."
"At the time it was shocking timing and it kind of killed me, but that is the way it goes. I've still managed to carve out a career. Obviously you never know, if I'd not had them, would I have stayed higher up? Potentially, but who knows?"
Second ACL rupture at Hull
Just months after joining Hull, Keane tore his ACL for a second time on his sixth appearance for the Tigers, during a 2-1 win over Southampton in November 2016. He missed 14 months and did not return until January 2018, after Hull had been relegated to the Championship. His first Hull goal came in a 5-0 win at Burton in April 2018.
Keane opened up on the physical and mental toll of the two injuries. "Yeah, at the time it was a real challenge. I think the first one I didn't really know because I'd never had a bad injury like that before, I kind of just got on with it. It was obviously really tough to take, but I didn't know how long the actual rehab process was going to take."
"As it carried on, I thought this is never ending. And it was tough because I remember at the time I was thinking, even when I got back outside, I was really struggling to get going and thought, how am I going to be able to play again here to a certain level? It just takes time and a bit of reprogramming your body and your brain almost to do all the things you used to do, but you get there eventually."
"The second one was tough because it was almost like a second chance at playing at that top level in the Prem (Premier League). So that one was really hard, especially because I knew how long it was out because I'd been through it once before. That season we got relegated at Hull, so then I've come back and we're not obviously in the same situation. That was hard to take because I felt like I'd had some setbacks at United, but then going to Hull was a fresh chance, a clean slate, and then to have that, it'd be such a major injury again, ruining the chance of getting more games in the Prem was really hard."
"Like I said, I've always tried to be optimistic and look to the positives, which is not easy at times. Still managed to grind it out and play at a good level and been at some great clubs."
EFL standout and free agency
Keane rebuilt his career in the EFL. After leaving Hull in 2019, he joined Ipswich Town and then Wigan Athletic, where he scored 27 goals in 50 appearances during the 2021/22 season as Wigan won the League One title. He followed that with double figures in the Championship, earning a move to Preston North End.
Keane was Preston's top scorer in the 2023/24 season with 13 goals and had his contract extended until June 2026. But he struggled in his second season and, after falling out of favour under Paul Heckingbottom at the start of the 2025/26 campaign, he went on loan to League One Reading for the second half of the season, scoring twice in 14 matches. He became a free agent this summer when his Preston deal expired.
Now 33, Keane is still looking for a club and has been training with the PFA pre-season camp for the last five weeks. "I feel really good," he said. "It was disappointing not to have played more games at the end of last season, but I feel like this is a clean slate and I'm still raring to go. I feel like I've still got a lot to offer."
"I wanted to rediscover the form that I had a couple of years ago. I was playing consistently and scoring plenty of goals. I feel like I've still got that in me. I'm really itching to do that again."
"I had a few injuries early on in my career, but a few people in the game said to me, the coach and what not, that hopefully towards the end of my career I'll get them back. I'm not exactly a player who's always relied on pure pace, which I know sometimes as you get older you might lose that yard. But as long as you still keep sharp in the mind and keep getting in the right areas, hopefully I can still contribute and score goals. So that's the aim and hopefully I'll still have a successful couple of years."
