Manchester United manager latest: Roy Keane wants return to management, but plays down talk of assisting Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford

The former Manchester United captain has been linked with a return to the club following the departure of David Moyes

Roy Keane has played down talk of an imminent return to Old Trafford, but has revealed he wants to be a manager again in the future.

The club's former captain has been linked with a return as Louis van Gaal's assistant, if the current Netherlands manager is given the job at Old Trafford.

However, Keane, who is currently assistant manager to Martin O'Neill with the Republic of Ireland, played down such suggestions.

"People keep asking me, ironically, about other jobs. I have got a job and I am very happy in my job," he told Today FM's Ray D'Arcy show in Cork.

Despite cooling talk of a return to Manchester United, Keane, who also works as a pundit for ITV, revealed a return to management would interest him in the future.

He said: "In my quiet moments, I obviously want to go back into being a manager myself."

Asked if his dream was for that to be at Old Trafford, the former Sunderland and Ipswich boss said: "No, I don't think that way.

"I was at a match on Friday night, I was at a match on Saturday and I am up in the stand thinking, 'I would love to have a team'.

"And then I'll get back in my car and I spoke to Martin, I think it was on Saturday night, and then I am thinking obviously I am delighted to be working with Martin and [goalkeeping coach] Seamus [McDonagh] and the other staff, so you have to be careful what you wish for.

"I am just really appreciating the opportunity I have at the moment. What happens further down the road..."

A return to Manchester United for Keane would be hugely controversial. Sir Alex Ferguson shifted him out of the club after he criticised his team-mates on the club's in-house television channel MUTV. Since then, the pair have been involved in a war of words, sparked most recently when Ferguson, now a director at the club, released his latest autobiography in which he was critical of his former captain.

Despite the friction between the pair, Keane said reconciliation would be difficult, but couldn't rule it out.

"I am not sure. Probably not. But look, I have said that about other people," said Keane.

"Football is a funny old game and you get clashes of personality sometimes, but it's something that's not on my mind at the moment, to be honest with you, whether it be good or bad."