Speaking on The Overlap Breakdown podcast, Keane revealed that a year's worth of planning was crammed into 16 weeks ahead of the 2022 summer transfer window at the conclusion of the 2021/22 season which saw several top stars join the side. United splurged a club high of £225M on six new signings, none of which have worked out for the best.
Antony (£85m), Casemiro (£70m), Lisandro Martinez (£57m), Tyrell Malacia (£13m), Christian Eriksen (free) and Martin Dubravka (loan) were all brought in for manager Erik ten Hag. Keane helped with negotiations for each deal and has now spoken on what went wrong in that window which included so much change behind the scenes.
"There were a couple of challenges. One of the biggest was everyone was new.
"I'd just walked through the door, the manager came in in May, John Murtough had been at the club a while but had just become football director, Richard Arnold had just become CEO and there was a new head of data.
"The way it would normally work is the transfer window shuts and in September they start planning for the following summer.What happened for us that summer, I think because of circumstances, the work started in May.
"It felt like we did a year's work in 12 to 16 weeks. I literally lived at the training ground and I didn't see my family, which was fine as I knew what I was getting myself into and it was part of the experience.”
Keane also revealed that despite huge numbers being thrown around during negotiations, somebody in his position had to remember that players are no assets and are humans who may fail once they join the side despite previous success.
"The budget side of it, the finance department had oversight of everything that was going on to ensure the club was remaining compliant with its PSR obligations.
"In terms of negotiations, the process was really detailed and it had to be. Big sums of money, so the stakes are high and with football players you are signing humans.
"You can't guarantee anything and all the work is trying to minimise risk. You're trying to improve the chances of the signing being a success."