Roy Keane has taken a swipe at Scotland star John McGinn, just days before the midfielder leads the nation into their first World Cup in 28 years.
The Aston Villa captain heads into the tournament on a high after helping fire his club to Europa League glory, but Keane was far from complimentary in his latest assessment.
Speaking on the Stick To Football podcast, the former Manchester United and Celtic midfielder said: “He’s one of these fellas, when he’s bad, when he has his bad days, he does look like a pub player.
“When he’s off it, he’s shocking. I’ve watched him long enough. And the stats are, when he’s in the team week in, week out, you go ‘if these managers all like him…’”
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Keane’s comments sparked immediate pushback from fellow pundits Ian Wright and Gary Neville. Wright admitted: “I don’t see him play many bad games.”
Neville added: “But Roy, you’d have him in your team wouldn’t you? You’d have him in your group.”
Keane conceded: “Oh you’d have him in your group. Absolutely.”
McGinn, 31, is expected to play a central role as Scotland kick off their World Cup campaign against Haiti in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The midfielder has already acknowledged he must improve on his previous tournament displays. He said: “Personally, I will do certain things differently.
“I didn’t play at my best in the last two major tournaments, alongside probably some others in the group. In these games, in these tournaments, you need your big players to come up with big moments.
“I will enjoy the excitement building up to it, but as it gets closer to the games I will focus on playing the game and not the occasion.”
