Fans can’t stop laughing at Roy Keane’s blunt response to bizarre Mikel Arteta Arsenal ‘pickpocket’ story

FOOTIE fans were left in stitches after Roy Keane poked fun at one of Mikel Arteta’s latest management methods.

Arteta secretly hired professionals to pickpocket his players during a dinner in a bid to warn them that they need to “stay alert” at all times next season as they bid to end their 21-year title drought.

Arteta had a unique method for teaching his Arsenal players an important lesson

GettyBut Roy Keane hilariously mocked his pickpocket idea[/caption]

Gary Neville was relaying the story to Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott, Ian Wright and Keane on the Overlap Stick to Football podcast.

Immediately after the message was delivered, Keane wasted no time in launching a hilarious dig at the Arsenal manager’s bizarre experiment.

In response Keane, 53, sarcastically said: “Oh, they (Arsenal) will definitely win the league this year after that.”

Keane then added: “No, it’s nice to do something like that… Thinking outside the box.”

The listening quartet then erupted into thunderous laughter before Keane excused Ian Wright of being defensive.

Wright, 60, said: “He’s trying to close the margins… He, in his mind, believes he has to do something else to put something else in their minds… I like the vibe of it.”

Before Keane shouted over the former Gunners star: “Wrighty, you don’t have to defend Arsenal.”

And Wright bounced back: “I am trying to explain why he would do something like that. He, in his mind, believes that he has to do something different.

FOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS

Keane then chimed in: “We know that, Ian! We know that,” before Wright then asked: “Why can’t I say that?”

Keane responded: “But you don’t have to get defensive about Arsenal. You are getting defensive.”

Wright then finally hit back: “How am I getting defensive when I am just explaining what the guy has done.”

Keane then explained: “We know what he is doing. He is playing mind games.”

Fans absolutely loved the duo’s fiery but tongue-in-cheek interaction.

One wrote on X: “Protect Roy Keane at all costs.”

Before a second said: “This arsenal PR is embarrassing.”

A third added: “Arteta was teaching them not to let any team pick their pockets this season.”

ARSENAL TRANSFER NEWS LIVE: All the latest deals and rumours from the Emirates

Ex-Liverpool defender Carragher noted in-between: “It’s things like that which can be seen as ‘he’s an absolute idiot’.

“Or ‘he’s a genius’. If he wins the league, he’s a genius. There’s that thing with Brendan Rodgers when Liverpool had a documentary.

“He brought in three envelopes. People still bring that up on social media. I know we didn’t win.”

“Sir Alex Ferguson did it before and won the league. So it was called amazing.”

Rodgers raised eyebrows when his infamous ‘envelope trick’ was used to try and motivate his Liverpool squad in 2012 – who then lost their first game of the season.

Inside the envelopes were the names of the players who he thought would let him down that season, and warned them not to be one.

Arsenal have a tricky start to the season