Alex Ferguson, commenting publicly for the first time on the subject of Robbie Keane, has dramatically overhauled the impression given six months ago by quotations attributed to him on the Republic of Ireland teenager. Ferguson, speaking to The Irish Times, goes as far as to say he wishes he had bought Keane when he was a 16-year-old.

At the end of last summer, when Keane was available for transfer for Stg£6 million from Wolverhampton Wanderers, Ferguson attended a function at the Fleetwood football club near Blackpool and was questioned from the floor about why Manchester United were not bidding for the young Irishman.

Ferguson's alleged response was to the extent that not only was Keane not worth the money, he would have to play in the reserves for a couple of years at Old Trafford before being considered for the first team.

The remarks caused consternation and anger. Now, though, Ferguson has set the record straight. He says the remarks were reported "in a different context" and distorted what he had meant to imply.

"It was an absolute disgrace," Ferguson said. "I did a dinner to help out a lad in Blackpool. At the end they wanted to ask a few questions and one asked: `why do you not sign Robbie Keane?' I said: `Well, for a start I should have signed him when my son told me to, when he was only 16. Darren (Ferguson's son, then with Wolves) told me all about him.

"`Now, by the time we came to watch him he was in the first team at 17. The way we operate is that if I am going to pay £6 million for a player I want to play him in my first team. Now there is no way Robbie Keane would get in my first team over Yorke, Cole, Sheringham or Solskjaer. So £6 million to me at the moment is a waste of money.

"If I was getting him for £100,000 and leaving him in the reserves for a couple of years - the way we do with a lot of young players like Jonathan Greening - yeah, that's the way it works for us. But for us to pay £6 million for an 18-year-old lad and play him in the reserves is out of the question.'

"That's exactly the way I answered it. But there was a freelance reporter at the dinner and he sold it in a different context. I could have sued but there was no point."

Ferguson is still clearly annoyed by the furore generated by the perceived slight, all the more because his true opinion of Keane is the opposite of what appeared. "I think he is a very good player," said Ferguson. "We should have bought him when he was in the Wolves youth team or reserves, though I don't think he really played reserve-team football. Whether Wolves would have signed him is another matter.

"Darren rated him and I saw him many times because I went to see Darren a lot. I could see the rawness in the boy, but I could also see the enthusiasm, the stamina he had, the drive."

Given that Keane has been questioned relentlessly about his reaction since Ferguson's initial remarks were published, and has responded courteously rather than angrily, he will be able to relax now that Ferguson's real opinion has emerged.