4. He's The Replacement For Roy Keane United Never Bought
Roy Keane left Manchester United under a cloud in 2005. Almost a decade on, he has yet to be replaced at Old Trafford. This is a perplexing fact, especially when you consider he was so instrumental to United during their dominance of the early 1990's. Since then, the Red Devils have had a series of pretenders to Irishman's throne, such as Owen Hargreaves and, more recently, Marouane Fellaini. But none have stepped in to fill the box-to-box role Keane made his own during his days at United. It could be that Arturo Vidal has the best chance of doing just that. In Italy, they call him Il Guerriero, translated into English this means 'The Warrior'. Vidal's tenacious style of play is very similar to Keane's, and was apparent during the World Cup. The Chilean travelled to Brazil with a knee injury, but battled through the pain barrier to haul his country through to the last-16 against Brazil, where, according to Squawka Stats, he won two tackles, seven aerial interceptions and maintained a pass accuracy of 75% - all on one knee. Vidal hassles and harries. In Serie A last season, only Udineses Allan (136) and Lazio's Marco Parolo (131) made more tackles than Vidal (130), according to WhoScored.com, and that's because the Juventus midfielder takes the game to the opposition much like Keane used to. United have badly lacked that bite and extra bit of steel in their midfield over the last few seasons, and Vidal would provide both.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
