Roy Keane explains why Steven Gerrard's behaviour wouldn't have been accepted at Man Utd

Roy Keane says Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso's underhanded attempts to quit Liverpool wouldn't have been tolerated at Manchester United.

Gerrard very nearly swapped Liverpool for Chelsea in 2004 and again in 2005

Gerrard even submitted a transfer request to push for the move.

He eventually rescinded the request and stayed at Anfield, though a very similar drama involving Reds team-mate Alonso, almost unfolded a few years later.

According to Rafa Benitez, Alonso refused to take part in a Champions League game at the start of the 2008/09 season because he was on the cusp of joining Arsenal and didn't want to be cup-tied

While discussing the saga, Keane insisted Gerrard and Alonso would have been ostracised if they'd pulled the same stunts as United players

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Keane

"Jamie [Carragher], you're a Liverpool lad. With Gerrard, sometimes a player wants to leave a club.

“But when they refuse to play or they don't want to be cup tied, I'm surprised players don't turn on them when they are gone”

"We wouldn't have tolerated that at United.

“[To Benitez] I know managers can have a disagreement with the player and the player wants to leave.

“It is straightforward for managers, to deal with a player who is not doing what he is supposed to be doing, when everyone is mates with him”

Like Alonso, the likes of Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres all left for clubs competing at the highest level, and Benitez has admitted his team "couldn't compete" with the wealthier teams around them

Shedding light on Alonso's situation back in 2008, Benitez explained that Liverpool needed to generate funds

Benitez

"We needed to sell. Xabi had an agreement; he was talking with one club and had an agreement,"

“We played Standard de Liege for a Champions League qualifier and we had Javier Mascherano and Lucas Leiva in the Olympic Games,

“Steven Gerrard had a lower back problem, so we had to play [Damien] Plessis and Xabi.

“Xabi had an agreement with Arsenal and didn’t want to get cup-tied.

"I told Jamie Carragher and Gerrard before the game that he had an agreement and doesn’t want to play, but he must because it is the most important game to qualify for the Champions League.

“Then when you were going out for the warm-ups, you said, ‘Poor Xabi.’ Not poor Xabi, he is playing for our club at this time.

“During the season he was our best player and didn’t go to Arsenal because he had to play [for us]."