Manchester United are to open talks with Roy Keane in the summer which could make the Republic of Ireland captain the highest paid player in the FA Premiership.

Keane, whose contract expires at the end of next season, is reported to be looking for a weekly wage of £40,000, an increase of £17,000 on the figure he currently receives for leading United.

Michael Kennedy, the London-based solicitor who looks after the player's business affairs, denied that Keane was being greedy.

"Roy is very happy at Manchester United and he's the captain of the club, the largest in the world," he said. "He would like to think that he'll be there for the rest of his career but, as with everything else in the current climate, he expects to be well rewarded for his remaining years there.

"He is not looking for anything other than he would expect to get in the market at this time. It's early days yet and some silly figures are being mentioned at the moment. Whether they are justified remains to be seen."

Although Kennedy stressed that the 27-year-old midfielder was not holding the club to ransom, Keane admitted that it "could be very interesting" if terms are not agreed.

Kennedy said that he hoped agreement on a new contract would be forthcoming sooner rather than later.

Worried by the prospect of the player leaving as a free agent under the Bosman ruling when his contract expires, United will seek to reach a new agreement at the end of the season.

Yet Martin Edwards, the club chairman, was at pains to emphasise that there will be no knee-jerk reaction to a crisis in the making. Edwards said: "Roy has 18 months of his contract still to run and our policy is to look at the situation a year before it ends. We don't plan to bring the matter forward. It will be dealt with in the usual manner during the close season."

Manchester United, the wealthiest club in Britain, have never been among the biggest paymasters. In line with the changing face of English football, their wage bill has soared in recent years, but Edwards has always insisted in implementing a rational wage structure at Old Trafford.

Were Keane to leave, he would almost certainly move to a big continental club where in addition to the financial inducements on offer, he could contemplate the prospect of a far less pressurised season than that in England.

But Keane will not be leaving Old Trafford if Bobby Charlton, a member of United's board of directors, has his way.

Speaking from Cannes, Charlton said: "Roy is a great player and I don't think there will be a problem at the end of the day. We'll try to sort something out with him.

"We certainly wouldn't want to lose him. We don't want to lose any good players because there are so few of them around. We'll work hard to keep Roy Keane." Meanwhile, David O'Leary, the Leeds United manager, yesterday put himself on a collision course with Brian Kerr when he came out strongly against clubs having to release players for the World Under-20 Championship in Nigeria from April 3rd-24th.

Kerr is almost certain to call up Stephen McPhail for the competition and with England's under-20 manager Howard Wilkinson likely to select three other Leeds youngsters, Jonathan Woodgate, Alan Smith and Paul Robinson, O'Leary could find his reserves of talent seriously depleted.

"I am prepared to fight this all the way," he said. "We are striving to qualify for Europe again, so if we lose these players it will be a joke. These players are regularly involved with the first team and hopefully will be challenging for honours with us in April.

"What do the FA think these players will learn in Nigeria? There is no comparison with playing in the Premiership."

A FIFA rule obliges clubs to release players for competitive international games and like the FAI, the English FA has made it clear that the world championship takes precedence over all club commitments.