Get the FREE Mirror Football newsletter by email with the day's key headlines and transfer news Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Roy Keane has claimed he was on the verge of signing Robbie Savage for Sunderland...before he heard the midfielder's voicemail.

The former Manchester United midfielder took the Black Cats out of the Championship and kept them in the Premier league in a tumultuous two-year stint at the Stadium of Light.

It was his first job as a manager, and he has since gone on to manage Ipswich as well as be assistant manager at Ireland and Aston Villa.

And Keane claims he was interested in signing Mirror Football columnist Savage before picking up the phone.

"I rang Mark Hughes about Robbie Savage. Robbie wasn't in the Blackburn team and I asked Mark if we could try to do a deal, a permanent or loan deal," Keane reveals in his book Roy Keane: The Second Half.

Gallery: Roy Keane career in pics

"Robbie's legs were going a bit, but I thought he might come up to us at Sunderland, with his long hair, and give us a lift, the way Dwight Yorke had - a big personality in the dressing room.

"Sparky gave me permission to give him a call. So I got Robbie's mobile number and rang him.

"It went to his voicemail: 'Hi, it's Robbie - whazzup!' - like the Budweiser ad.

"I never called him back. I thought 'I can't be f****** signing that'."

Savage responded in good spirits, tweeting "Oh come on Roy whattttsuppppppppp !!!! Hahahaha"

MORE:8 things we learned from Keane's book