Roy Keane's true feelings about Man City's Jack Grealish abandoning Republic of Ireland

Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane is not one to be shy about his opinions in regards to the Republic of Ireland national team.

During his playing career, Keane represented Ireland throughout and following his retirement has been part of the country's backroom staff too. That's why he is very passionate about players choosing to play for Ireland and what it means to represent the country.

Throughout history, the two countries have often battled for players' allegiance thanks to the 'grandparent rule'. This controversial clause means players whose grandparents are a certain nationality, their grandchildren are also eligible to play for that country.

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One player to exploit that was Manchester City's Jack Grealish. As a youngster, he represented Ireland at youth level thanks to three of his grandparents' nationalities.

However, he rejected the offer of playing for the senior team and instead moved to England where he made his debut for the U21s and first-team thanks to Gareth Southgate. In 2022, Keane brought up Grealish and Declan Rice (who also switched allegiances) when discussing Jamal Musiala who chose to play for Germany instead of England.

"It’s good that England have been given a taste of their own medicine," Keane told ITV Sport. "They took Rice and Grealish. Don’t get me started on that."

While clearly annoyed by the practice of switching allegiances, Keane has also been vocal about players who choose to represent Ireland for what he feels are the 'wrong reasons'.

"Love of a country is a hard thing to measure but if you see a player on the TV who played for Ireland, singing 'God Save the Queen'