£60m man - Liverpool ready to make Tottenham striker Keane

• Trump_Card

  16 Jul 08, 23:03

  £60m man - Liverpool ready to make Tottenham striker Keane one of the costliest players in football history with £20m bid

  

  Liverpool will make Robbie Keane one of the world’s costliest players this week - splashing out £20m to lure him away from Tottenham.

  That would take his career transfer value close to £60m, behind the likes of Chelsea’s serial transferee Nicolas Anelka (£85m) and Hernan Crespo (£68m).

  Republic of Ireland skipper Keane is a life-long Liverpool fan and has made it clear he wants to move to Anfield.

  Liverpool would be his sixth club with the latest £20m capping a series of multi-million pound moves.

  Coventry paid £6m to Wolves for Keane in 1999 and subsequent deals have seen him go to Inter Milan for £13m, Leeds for £12m and then Tottenham for £7m in August 2002.

  Keane has scored 107 goals in 254 games for Spurs and bagged 33 goals in 80 Irish appearances.

  Kop boss Rafa Benitez believes Keane will provide his side with much-needed pace up front alongside main striker and Spanish hero Fernando Torres.

  Benitez has already offloaded towering front man Peter Crouch to Portsmouth to make way - although the Reds boss also still needs to offload Xabi Alonso to raise funds.

  His expected move to Juventus has fallen down although Arsenal are now on alert.

  A source close to Alonso said: 'If the decision was down to Xabi, he would make the move because Arsenal’s style is perfect for him.'

  Check out his boner in this pic ...
• gigabyte14

  16 Jul 08, 23:24

  sweet deal.

• Freedom-Fighter

  16 Jul 08, 23:49

  How 'excited' could he have been at that time i wonder...

  With a deal like this, he must be super excited now!

• purpledragon84

  17 Jul 08, 01:16

  lol boner!

  was he promised one chick per goal or something hhahaha..

• redDUST

  17 Jul 08, 09:47

  is he worth $20m for a fringe player behind torres? rafa siao liao issit?

• NG QIBO AARON AUBREY

  17 Jul 08, 10:49

  he is good

• Gackt247

  17 Jul 08, 12:09

  "Banging" in a goal eh..

• SiMiLaiEh*

  17 Jul 08, 13:18

  he pokes the ball in with his boner..thats why

• dragg

  17 Jul 08, 13:29

  is liverpool going to put him on the bench?  i seriously doubt so.

   

• youyayu

  17 Jul 08, 13:39

  Originally posted by redDUST:

  is he worth $20m for a fringe player behind torres? rafa siao liao issit?

  he want to sent a msg to aston that i can buy keane for 20m rather then put 18m for barry LOL

• Gackt247

  17 Jul 08, 14:18

  Originally posted by youyayu:

  he want to sent a msg to aston that i can buy keane for 20m rather then put 18m for barry LOL

  
  That's like... ???

• Patrik

  17 Jul 08, 14:30

  Kee siao..

  I dun really think he is worth so much.

• redDUST

  17 Jul 08, 14:54

  Originally posted by youyayu:

  he want to sent a msg to aston that i can buy keane for 20m rather then put 18m for barry LOL

  i take barry anytime...keane never impresses me.

• zocoss

  17 Jul 08, 14:56

  But I think they will settle for £18m lah... Get 10% discount...

• redDUST

  17 Jul 08, 14:59

  Originally posted by dragg:

  is liverpool going to put him on the bench?  i seriously doubt so.

   

  for sure, rafa likes to play lone striker mostly, and if they needed 2, kuyt can go back to his original role. kuyt's work rate exceed keane's anytime.

  and i think babel will have more field time next season in the wing. and torres will start most BPL matches, rafa shldn't repeat the mistake of resting him is so-called easier matches. it cost liverpool big time last season.

  where does that leave keane? he is just another crouch, i.e. bench warmer, bit player. sell one for £11m and buy a £20m bench warmer? goo goo boh?

   

• zocoss

  17 Jul 08, 15:19

  I think Rafa may want to change his formation to a 4-4-2 otherwise no point spending so much for a bench warmer right...

• zocoss

  17 Jul 08, 15:26

  Wah we have got Ballack nipple picture now this Robbie boner one... What is it coming to...  

   

   

  

• chrisbenoit

  17 Jul 08, 16:29

  Robbie Keane is already in my FIFA 08 squad, and trust me, initially he was scoring goals then later missing like hell. Hope that doesnt happen irl lol.

• zocoss

  17 Jul 08, 19:08

  POOL SET TO BID FOR KEANE - REPORTS

  

   

  Liverpool are expected to launch a £18m bid for Robbie Keane imminently after Rafa Benitez reportedly told the Anfield hierarchy that pairing the Tottenham striker with Fernando Torres was now his number one priority this summer.

   

  Having grown frustrated by Aston Villa's refusal to sell Gareth Barry for less than £18m, Benitez's focus has switched from midfield to attack and away from the Midlands towards north London. According to The Times, 'Benitez has identified Keane as an ideal strike partner for Fernando Torres and the Liverpool manager has instructed his board to try to conclude a deal by the start of next week.'

   

  Tottenham remain adamant that they will not sell Keane, nor Dimi Berbatov to Manchester United, but 'Liverpool and United believe that Tottenham, having been informed of both players' determination to move, will sell at the right price'.

   

  Whether Liverpool will make a fifth bid for Barry even if they buy Keane is dependent on whether they can sell Xabi Alonso. The Spanish midfielder, along with Barry, has been linked with a move to Arsenal but Liverpool are said to be doubtful there is any truth to those reports and 'confident that they will find an overseas buyer for Alonso, such as Atlético Madrid, before concluding a deal for Barry'.

• zocoss

  17 Jul 08, 19:15

  Like I have expected, Rafa is going to change the style of Pool's game next season too... With Scolari expected to change Chelsea to a more attacking side, Rafa won't want to be seen as the only big side playing defensive football...

  Next season the big 4 all will play attacking football... very interesting...

• gunner77

  17 Jul 08, 20:39

  boner

• redDUST

  17 Jul 08, 23:13

  Originally posted by zocoss:

  Like I have expected, Rafa is going to change the style of Pool's game next season too... With Scolari expected to change Chelsea to a more attacking side, Rafa won't want to be seen as the only big side playing defensive football...

  Next season the big 4 all will play attacking football... very interesting...

  alamak, you post from an unquoted source that mildly support earlier post on your view on rafa's formation next season; and you reinforce that by saying you are right.

  what kind of self-pat-on-the-back is this? did rafa open his mouth already and say he will play 4-4-2 next season?

  you may be right in the end, but your posting intent here is so damn obvious lah.... 

• zocoss

  18 Jul 08, 00:58

  Ok lah.. ok lah... Then very obvious Rafa willing to spend $20m to sit him on the bench lor... or maybe bench Torres who knows...

  I just got the feeling after reading that part only mah... no need to alamak lah... Afterall, Pool fans should be happy cos who was their last manager who played real attacking football ?

  I also don't know this one... I am only guessing... Maybe Kenny Dalglish?

   

  Rafa Benitez reportedly told the Anfield hierarchy that pairing the Tottenham striker with Fernando Torres was now his number one priority this summer.

• Cristiano@Red_Devils.com

  18 Jul 08, 14:02

  Keane has quietly developed into an iconic figure at white hart lane. Top rated strikers such as Darren Bent and Jermain Defoe have joined and found themselves lagging behind Keane in priority to the starting eleven. He is Spurs' regular leading scorer and club captain, and is now a more complete player than he was few years ago. But still these are not sufficient to justify an 18mil pounds price tag. It is simply a case of overpricing of footballers, which is common in today's football world.

   

  What i'm more interested in is that with Ramos busy planning sales of his regular forwards (Keane, Berbatov, etc), do Spurs have any plans to sign new strikers?

• Saltiga

  18 Jul 08, 21:02

  Keane is pretty good a forward IMHO, not the best out there but should just be the type of forward Liverpool needs, strong & with pace..

  Dunno if Liverpool would switch to 442 cos pairing could also needs playing one as a out and out srtiker while the other plays as a supporting forward role.

  also its only logic that Rafa claimed as such, else who would move to Liverpool if the manager says "My no 1 priority is to sign XXX and let him warm the bench" unless of course that guy got a damn huge as$..