Rio - Roy will be back

England defender believes football has not seen the last of Keane

Last updated: 5th December 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Rio - Roy will be back

Ferdinand: Thinks Keane will be back

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Rio Ferdinand believes former team-mate Roy Keane will come back into the game - but only when he is ready.

Keane left Sunderland on Thursday, despite chairman Niall Quinn's best efforts to try and persuade the Irishman to stay.

While some think Keane has now turned his back on football for good, Ferdinand believes his old Manchester United colleague will return when he is ready, and the Premier League is a poorer place until then.

The defender said: "The more characters there are in the Premier League the better and Roy falls into that category.

"He speaks his mind. He did it as a player and he was doing it as a manager.

Bit surprised

"There has obviously been a lot of talk about him, with people saying he was going to leave. Even so, I was a little bit surprised.

"At the end of the day Roy is his own man and he will make his own mind up.

"I am sure Sunderland will move on because he has been there and I am sure he will move on himself."

He added: "When he sees it right and it suits him to come back into the game I am sure we will see him again."