United captain Keane was at the peak of his sporting prowess and at his most influential at United when teenager Rooney burst into Alex Ferguson's dressing room and did not hesitate to test his authority.

Amid a highly impressive debut appearance as a TV pundit on Sky's Monday Night Football, Rooney told a story that had his fellow pundit Jamie Carragher is stitches of laughter and we can all imagine Keano's reaction as the new kid on the United block pulled off this stunt.

"I always remember on my first away trip having a big argument with Roy Keane," reflected Rooney. "Roy was watching the rugby the night before and he went to get his food and I turned over and put X Factor on.

"He weren't happy about it, so we had an argument, but straight away he respected me more for it. I think he looked at me and respected that fact that I was big enough to have a go back at him."

We would all like to have been a fly on the wall when Keano walked in to realise Simon Cowell had replaced the rugby at the United team hotel, with Rooney's confidence in his formative days at United evidence of what was to come.

The striker now plying his trade at first club Everton once more silenced a few of his critics with an accomplished performance as a Sky TV pundit, as he reflected on his record breaking career with club and country and offered up articulate views on a wide range of topics.

His views on former club Manchester United made for especially interesting viewing, as he offered up these comments on new signing Alexis Sanchez and struggling midfielder Paul Pogba.

"Sanchez is the perfect player for United. He's got aggression, passion, desire and you can see he’s a winner," he stated.

"That’s what they’ve lacked, players around (Romelu) Lukaku that are going to push Lukaku on and try and help him get a bit more freedom and score more goals. Sanchez will do that, they’re the players you want because they lift other players and give them an extra five per cent.

"For me Pogba is a classic box to box player, he can do a bit of everything really well. If he has that freedom where he doesn’t have to think about defending then he can cause mayhem for teams, he’s so talented. At Juventus he had (Andrea) Pirlo alongside him and I think with Nemanja Matic and one other it will suit him better in a three.

"I think with Jose Mourinho when he buys a player he plays them. Lukaku and Sanchez will play every game, there’s no room for other strikers to come in and play."