Kenny Dalglish lost his mind when Roy Keane U-turned on Blackburn transfer and made wild threat

Manchester United legend Roy Keane admitted he was rather nervous after Kenny Dalglish threatened to hunt him down while he was on holiday for snubbing Blackburn Rovers.

Before Keane became a Premier League legend at Old Trafford, he was one of the most sought-after young midfielders in Europe. The Irishman's dominant performances under Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest saw many clubs jostle for his signature. At one stage, it looked like Blackburn had won the race after Dalglish shook hands with Keane on a move.

But Sir Alex Ferguson swooped in and convinced Keane to head to Old Trafford instead, much to Dalglish's fury. To make matters even worse, Keane did not explain to Dalglish why he opted to join the Red Devils, meaning an irate Dalglish had to directly confront a rather sheepish Keane to get his answer.

Recounting the saga on Sky Bet's 'Stick to Football' podcast, Keane said: "What I should have done [after agreeing to join Manchester United] was ring Blackburn straight away, but I dragged that out. A week later I was going on holiday to Ayia Napa with a few lads from Forest and Kenny [Dalglish] rang me.

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"I told Kenny that I should have got in touch with him sooner, I was a bit embarrassed, and he went mad. He said something like, 'You're a f***ing joke, nobody does this to Kenny Dalglish,' but he was right. We shook hands on the deal, and he said that in Scotland, if you shake hands that's it. If things had been done that night [when I first agreed to join Blackburn], I would have signed for Blackburn. They have to take responsibility too.

"Kenny was going mad, and I remember saying to him that I was going on holiday, he said, 'I'll f***ing find you'. I was in Ayia Napa for the week looking over my shoulder, I swear. I've seen Kenny since, brilliant guy and huge respect."

The choice between Blackburn and United was daunting for Keane, reports the Manchester Evening News. Despite his heart leading him towards Old Trafford, he also knew that his actions were jeopardising his potential move to Blackburn, a huge team in their own right. Keane did not have an agent and handled his own transfer matters himself. Once he realised how tricky his situation was, he got one of the best representatives in the business to help him.

He added: "I had to take a step back and realise that I should at least speak to Manchester United. This was all with no agent and I was also jeopardising the Blackburn deal. This dragged on for months and I had to go back to pre-season with Forest because United didn't want to match Blackburn [offer]. United's point would have been that my clause was £3.5million, but Forest were saying that's after the 1st of September so if you wanted to do the deal earlier [you'd have to match Blackburn].

"I eventually got someone to help me with the contracts. Blackburn said they'd give me £400,000 and United at the time were at £300,000. United were saying that they could get a deal done with Forest, so to bear with them, but I was jeopardising the deal with Blackburn. I remember being away with the international team and speaking to some of the players, explaining that Blackburn had offered me £400,000 but United were at £300,000.

"David O'Leary was there and said that I could use Michael Kennedy, a solicitor in London who'd done all his contracts. I rang him that evening, explained the situation and asked him to speak to Martin Edwards for me and he got back to me the next day and said that United will go to £350,000. I said I'd go to United."

Keane ultimately became a legend at Old Trafford, making 326 appearances for the club and securing seven Premier League titles, the Champions League, four FA Cups and four Community Shield trophies.