Jason McAteer has thrown down the gauntlet to arch-rival Roy Keane by hinting that he would be willing to step into the ring with the Sky Sports pundit for "a million pounds."

Keane and McAteer's long-running feud stems back to 2002 when Keane was sent off for Manchester United against Sunderland for swinging an elbow at McAteer.

The Ireland teammates re-ignited their beef in recent days, with Keane claiming McAteer "deserved" the elbow, while beIN Sports pundit McAteer labelled Keane a "clown" in a social media post.

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Speaking on beIN's coverage of Ireland's 1-0 loss to the Netherlands, McAteer claimed he would love nothing more than to meet with Keane and put the past to bed.

However, if that wasn't to be the case, he joked that he would be willing to step into the ring to settle their differences, and he knows someone who would love to promote the bout.

"Yeah," said McAteer when asked if he was tired of the feud, "I'd rather him come in here now and we just go 'let's let bygones be bygones' Let's just be civil.

"Or, we could get in the ring for a million pounds each and fight it out. Eddie (Hearn), if you're watching... Eddie Hearn, get him on the phone.

"But Roy, come on, be better than that. And I promise I'll stop reacting."

While the feud has simmered for years, it came back into the public's consciousness last week when Keane slammed McAteer on The Overlap's 'Stick to Football' podcast, where he opened up on his red card against McAteer.

When asked by podcast host Gary Neville about the incident, Keane stated that McAteer "deserved it."

"Sent off in injury time in a one-all draw for elbowing Jason McAteer, following a number of heated exchanges throughout the game," Neville read aloud before Keane bluntly replied "He deserved that."

Neville then says McAteer was Keane's teammate before the Corkman replied "I wouldn't go that far."

When asked by Jill Scott whether Keane and McAteer were mates, Keane said "Absolutely not."

"Just because you play with someone doesn't mean you're mates. Do you know what, he was one of these players who shout their mouths off.

"I didn't mind lads kicking me or booting me, honestly, but McAteer as usual had plenty to say for himself. But even then, I didn't deserve to be sent off in that game, absolutely not.

"If you look back on it, I didn't even catch him."

While clearly being tongue-in-cheek, McAteer should be careful what he wishes for given Keane's recent admission that he was a tidy enough undefeated boxer in his youth.

In the presence of none other than Eddie Hearn himself, Keane said: "When I was a kid when I was 11 or 12 years of age just for a few years as you do when you're back in Ireland to keep out of trouble.

"My brother had about 50 amateur fights but had about four fights. I was unbeaten, you know what I mean. It was great, brilliant when you were younger with training, I loved everything about it and the discipline.

"These lads going into the right to fight and their mindset."

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