Robbie Keane, one of the most prolific goalscorers in the history of the Premier League, has joined Liverpool from Spurs for £19 million, which could increase to £20.3 million depending on appearances.
The move is an excellent coup for Liverpool who are desperate for a proven striker to partner Fernando Torres up front. The skilfull Irishman is the perfect spark that the Reds need to put away those golden chances that players such as Kuyt and Voronin typically miss.
While £19 million is a lot of money for a 28-year old striker, Liverpool fans can guarantee that Robbie Keane will explode for the Reds in two ways: (1) on the pitch, in the form of goals, and (2) with his infamous temper tantrums aimed at his managers.
The challenge for Liverpool will be to keep Keane content at the Merseyside club. This is the type of player who is so passionate about playing that he often gets into a rage when substituted. With Liverpool often playing a 4-5-1 and Torres as the preferred striker, it makes you wonder how soon it’ll be before we see Keane’s fiery temper and whether the striker can shake off the reality of not continually being one of the eleven Liverpool starters.
Tottenham has already distanced itself from the transfer deal in order to quel the expected fury of Spurs fans. In a letter on its website, Tottenham chairman David Levy said, “I don’t regard it as a transfer deal – that is something which happens between two clubs when they both agree to trade – this is very much an enforced sale, for which we have agreed a sum of £19m as compensation plus a potential further £1.3m in additional compensation.”
In addition to paying Tottenham £19 million for Keane, Liverpool FC has acknowledged that the way its website reported comments of its manager, which were widely covered by the media, was inappropriate and in light of that acknowledgement has apologised and agreed to make a donation to the Club’s main charity, the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation.
Now that Keane has officially joined Liverpool, Tottenham fans will be expecting the north London club to acquire a world-class striker to replace the Irishman. Spurs fans will also be nervous about the future of Dimitar Berbatov and whether the Bulgarian will be staying at White Hart Lane or not.
Just as the transfer of Paul Robinson from Tottenham to Blackburn was in the best interest of Robinson, the move for Keane to Liverpool is a smart move for the Irish striker. He has the potential to quickly become a Kop favorite as well as playing in the Champions League this season — something he was unable to do at Spurs.
Rumours were saying that Keane only cost liverpool 13 million which could get to 15 million as addons. The 20 million figure quoted by Levy was just to quell fans revolt over the selling of the 28 year old 20 goals striker.
As Liverpool are short on cash, it figures how the Merseyside can afford a 20 million deal while they cannot afford an 18 million deal with Barry.
Anfield officials did not comment on the value of the deal because Spurs have requested that the value should only be disclosed by the Spurs board. As such, we didn’t see any comments from Anfield for the capture of Keane.
I love the way everyone’s an expert about Liverpool’s finances. I remember us being ‘skint’ last season, then signed Torres.
It’s not that we haven’t got the money to buy Barry, it’s that Rafa won’t pay £18m for him. Obviously he’s happy to pay that amount for Keane and therefore he did. We’ve sold in the region of £20m worth of players, and bought around £32m, which means only an outlay of £12m. The owners already reported that they gave rafa the CL money + £20m to spend. That was roughly £40m (and + the money from sold players). So there’s still £20m+ kicking around.
Wouldn’t surprise me if either the Barry deal is now done, or we look to a winger, possibly Silva. Maybe both (though we don’t need Barry, he’s had 1 good (not great) season)
King Kong – Spurs are a PLC, so perhaps the source of your spurious rumor can explain how Spurs plan to fudge a missing 5M quid on it’s balance sheet.
Great post, Gaffer. Keane hasn’t ever been happy since he left Leeds, and will explode at Liverpool. It’s just a matter of time.
The other point that I’d raise is that with Keane, who will likely play just off Torres in sort of an attacking midfield role, what happens to Gerrard? Does he get shuffled out wide again?
I like Keane and was so disappointed when he went to Spurs – I like Ireland and I like Arsenal so this was a match made in hell.
Seeing Keane leave has delighted our family.
However Liverpool tend to play 4-5-1. The one is Torres so I see a problem for Keane unless Rafa is going to start going 4-4-2 or try and make Keane part of the 5?
Good luck to him though.
keane only scores goals when he plays a considerable amount of time consecutively.
with rafa’s rotation system, that isn’t going to happen.
he may score goals, but expect another crouchy situation.
It’s pretty obvious for those who cannot see how Keane will fit into Liverpools team:
——— Torres
Babel – Keane – Gerrard
—– Bary – Masch ——–
——–Back Four ———
Keane is useless – Liverpool have made a huge mistake signing him.