Home
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Robbie Keane has tonight put pen to paper on a 4-year deal at Liverpool Football Club.
Fourteen years after turning down the club he grew up supporting in favour of Wolves, the Republic of Ireland captain finally completed a dream move following a medical at Melwood.
Keane is the fifth summer addition to Rafa Benitez's first-team squad after the arrival of David Ngog, Diego Cavalieri, Philipp Degen and Andrea Dossena.
The transfer is the sixth major move of a career which began with South Dublin side Crumlin United before the prodigious teenager burst onto the scene at Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1997.
A big-money move to top flight Coventry followed before Marcelo Lippi, manager of Italian giants Inter Milan, offered £13million for his services in 2000.
Keane would team up with Ronaldo and Christian Vieri in Serie A, though the move was to turn sour when Lippi was sacked.
A loan to Leeds United was arranged in December 2000, a deal made permanent six month later.
Unfortunately, Keane's arrival at Elland Road coincided with a growing financial crisis, and he was to join the exodus of stars in 2002 with a £7million transfer to Tottenham Hotspur.
Over the next few years the frontman, famed for his cartwheel goal celebration, finally settled, tallying an impressive 107 goals in 253 appearances and becoming a firm fans' favourite.
So good was his form in February 2006 that Inter president Massimo Moratti admitted his regret at letting Keane go.
Three months before departing for Merseyside he won his first senior honour as a player after helping Spurs beat Chelsea in the League Cup final.
The 28-year-old has also carved out a name for himself on the international stage having made up part of the so-called Golden Generation which emerged in the late 1990s.
The striker was part of the Irish side which triumphed in the 1998 European U18 Championships just months after making his senior bow against the Czech Republic.
His first international goal came against Malta in October 1998 and he is now the Republic's all-time record scorer ahead of Niall Quinn.
Keane famously scored a last-minute equaliser against Germany in the 2002 World Cup, one of three in the tournament.
Few were surprised when former Reds defender Steve Staunton handed him the captain's armband upon taking the Irish reins in 2006.
So what do we think about this transfer? Will he and Torres form a formidable partnership up front that can improve Liverpool's title hopes? or will the pressure get to Keane and he will be a flop?
I'm personally very excited to see how Keane and Torres will do together, I certainly wouldn't be too happy if I was a defender against them!
Last edited by Keane on Mon Jul 28, 2008 6:42 pm; edited 1 time in total
)
Sevilla were interested in Arbeloa (Spanish papers) as they'd lost both Alves and Boulharouz. That díed though when they signed Squillaci, Fernando Navarro and Konko I would have thought though 2 of them are CB's