Sam Allardyce has hit back at Manchester United legend Roy Keane by claiming there is nobody with a bigger ego than him.
Allardyce had been out of management since 2021 before he recently accepted the offer to become Leeds' interim boss. The 68-year-old had the challenge of keeping Leeds in the Premier League but he failed and they were relegated last weekend.
After Leeds' relegation to the Championship, Keane said that Allardyce's opinion of himself is too big to manage in the second tier again and the former England manager has now responded by suggesting those comments are ironic.
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Allardyce hit back in an interview with the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast and said Keane has the biggest ego in football.
"There’s nobody with a bigger ego than Roy," Allardyce said. "That’s some statement coming from him. He mistakes ego for experience and confidence, and the ability to do the job, which was much better than Roy did [as a manager] wasn’t it?
“I managed in the Championship at Bolton where we got in the playoffs and got into the Premier League in 2001. I did what I’ve done at Leeds with West Ham where I was there in the first year where we got relegated and then got back into the Premier League through the playoffs, and that was a lot of work.”
Allardyce also predicted United would be favourites for the Premier League title if signing Declan Rice and Harry Kane this summer.
“I absolutely think that if Manchester United sign Declan Rice and Harry Kane then they would be second favourites to win the Premier League. I saw Declan Rice first hand at West Ham away this season," he added.
"It’s rare that you see a player who has been brought up as a centre half evolve into a central midfield player as well as he has.He’s the all-action midfield player, he’s not just a sitting anchor man, he’s everything.
"He’s a passer and he’s box-to-box, and people might say he doesn’t score enough to be worth £100 million, but what he can bring to the team would evolve Manchester United through the middle. If Harry Kane and Declan Rice were both through the middle for United then they’d be fighting for spots one and two in the league.”
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