Transfer option for Keano

IT’S just a theory, but might Roy Keane be selling his Cheshire home to expand his property interests in Quinta do Lago?

Keane’s own former Manchester family home, Chantrey Dane, on South Downs Drive went up for sale in the past few weeks, guiding €11.2 million for a nine-bed, ten-bath house. And, that’s just in the same sort of price league to allow him snap up the late Formula 1 race Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna’s Algarve home at Quinta do Lago, on a 2.8 acre plot.

That six-bed pad, with three-bedroomed guest cottage, is for sale for €10 million, and interest from legions of fans of three-time World champion Senna is already reported.

Corkman Keane’s move to Ipswich (he now lives in Woodbridge) is said to be behind the decision to sell his 9,500 sq ft home at Hale, Cheshire, and he’s asking £9.2/€11.2 million, for the place he bought back in 2005 for £3.2 million before extending (he’d just bought another Cheshire home when this beauty came along.)

If he gets the British price he’s after, and profits nicely as a consequence, he’s on the ball and fair play to him — property values in his native Cork are now back to c2002 levels, and still dipping.

Keane has previously bought a place in the sun in entrepreneur Denis O’Brien’s Quinta do Lago, so might he be tempted by Ayrton Senna’s pad there should he get his sterling windfall?

The late racing supremo Senna’s villa has a putting green, 2,000 sq ft swimming pool — and a floodlit international tournament standard tennis court that can be turned into a five-a-side soccer pitch.

Fancy going around to Keano’s gaff for a kick-around?

Pictures: The late Ayrton Senna’s Portuguese home in Quinta do Lago, seeking €10 million, and Roy Keane’s house, Chantrey Dane, South Downs Drive, Hale, Manchester, for which he’s asking €11.2 million.