Roy Keane found it ‘incredibly difficult’ to deal with players that could not meet his standards, and has been out of management for too long to return, suggests Darren Bent.

Keane has not been in charge of a team since leaving Ipswich in 2011, although he has been assistant at Republic of Ireland, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest since then.

The 52-year-old has been working regularly as a pundit for Sky Sports but declared recently that he fancies another crack at management.

‘I’d like to go back in, yeah,’ Keane said on Stick to Football. Asked why, he said: ‘I think it’s just the challenge of getting back in.

‘I’ve been out of management for a number of years now, but I’m still agitated every Saturday about not having a team and I’ve not managed for 10-11 years, so it never goes away.’

Bent, who was at Aston Villa when Keane was coaching there, is not sure he could return now after such a long time out, and noted a problem that the Irishman had in their time together at Villa Park.

‘He hasn’t managed in over 10 years, football has moved on,’ Bent said on talkSPORT. ‘I always felt like he found it incredibly difficult when he was playing with players that weren’t up to the level of what he expects.

‘We used to do training sessions at Aston Villa and a couple of simple passes that people misplaced he’d lose his mind, he’s stop the session and be screaming and it’s whether he can deal with that.

‘If he can deal with that and lower the standard of what he expects, that’s no disrespect because he’s one of the best to ever do it.

‘I think if he does that, I think he could be great, but I’m not quite sure…Ipswich Town was his last club as a manager and he left in 2011. That’s a long time ago. You talk about the evolution of football, it changes all the time.’

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