After all the weeks of deliberation, the hours spent mulling over advice and weighing up the pros and cons, Michael Keane could offer a sliver of consolation to those who had hoped that a return to Manchester United would prove a formality this summer.

José Mourinho had shown a strong interest in signing the centre half as he plotted his next round of reinforcements and, for Keane, who had only left Old Trafford for Burnley three years earlier, all manner of tempting possibilities abounded. There was the lure of going home, the appeal of the Champions League and perhaps the chance to fulfil, at the second attempt, all of the dreams that he harboured as a youngster.

Yet, when it came down to making a