Keogh set to leave MK Dons after shock Championship bid

Richard Keogh has played his final game for MK Dons after a surprise bid sees him heading for the Championship.

The 34-year-old was sacked by Derby County in 2019, but signed for Dons in the summer still rehabing after a long-term knee injury. Back to fitness though, Keogh made 21 appearances for Dons before the bid came in, and came as something as a surprise to both club and player.

"Richard is in talks with a Championship club – it's a surprise to everyone," Russell Martin confirmed after Saturday's 3-0 defeat to Peterborough. "He expressed a desire to pursue that and we've agreed a deal which is very good for someone of his age, but disrupting for us, so it's a blow.

"But when someone expresses a desire to leave, it changed the plan late on. We're being empathetic to someone who wants to go elsewhere, and it enables us to invest and replace him.

"It's been a stressful 24 hours, we had to change the team and that is far from ideal.

I"'m disappointed because we've lost a player who is really important. But when a player expresses that desire to leave and at his age, it would be really difficult to then have him after we've rejected it.

"If you look at it in the cold light of day, it's good business, but he's been a huge cog for us. We helped him get back to full fitness, but I've got nothing against Richard, I'm just disappointed to lose such a good player."