Premiership Journeymen ... Robbie Keane
October 1st 2010 12:01
Link: twitter.com/mattsaltmer
Following my post on Nicolas Anelka a couple of days ago, today brings a look at the second man I consider a Premier League journeyman. To qualify for this tag, it must be a player who has switched clubs regularly throughout their career, but found success at the majority of sides they have represented. Today I'm looking at the career of Robbie Keane, who in a similar way to Anelka, is one of the most expensive footballers ever, due to the amount of big money transfers he has been part of. His total transfer value currently stands at £75 million, and at 30-years-old and struggling to get in the Tottenham team at the moment, that figure could yet grow.
From Dublin, Ireland, a 15-year-old Keane was being pursued by Liverpool and Wolves, while playing for his schoolboy team, Crumlin United. In a very level headed decision for a boy so young, he decided to sign for Division One side Wolves, as he felt it would be easier to break into their first team. So the teenager joined the Wolves academy. It didn't take long for him to make a big impact, as in August 1997, still just 17, he scored twice on his debut, against Norwich City.
In his early years, it wasn't clear if Keane would develop into a central midfielder, or striker. But in the 1998-99 season, he top scored for Wolves, scoring 16 league goals, and has been a striker ever since. By 1999, a 19-year-old Keane, had scored 24 league goals for Wolves, and was being sought after by a host of Premier League clubs. Eventually, he moved to Coventry City, for a British transfer record for a teenager, £6 million.
Despite only spending one season at the Sky Blues, he is still loved by the Coventry fans a decade later, such was his impact at the club. He again netted twice on a league debut, going on to score 12 league goals that season. Many City fans believe it was the decision to let Keane leave that summer, that lead to their relegation not long after. But in a huge risk, the 20-year-old Irish striker, moved to Serie A, joining Inter Milan for a huge £13 million.
Then developed a story so common in modern day football. Marcelo Lippi, the Inter manager who signed Keane, believed he was one of the best young footballers around at the time, and was more than happy to spend such a big fee to land his man. But just weeks after the transfer, Lippi was sacked, replaced by Marco Tardelli, who had a different opinion on Keane. He was soon deemed surplus to requirements, and lasted just five months in Italy.
After just six goal-less league appearances, (though he did score three goals in other competitions), Robbie Keane was back in England, being loaned to Leeds United. The second half of the 2001-02 season saw him bag 9 league goals in 18 appearances, an impressive enough record, to encourage David O'Leary to spend £12 million on him that summer. He was the latest in a line of big-name signings by the Yorkshire club, mirroring the recruitment of Galactico's at Real Madrid. Unfortunately though, they didn't have the same money.
Players at Leeds United suffered from too much competition for places, never finding consistent performances, which lead to the team under performing, meaning the financial risk didn't pay off. Keane scored ten goals in the 2002-03 season, which ended with Leeds offloading a host of stars. Robbie Fowler, Rio Ferdinand, Jonathan Woodgate, Lee Bowyer, Nigel Martyn, Harry Kewell, and Robbie Keane all left the club. Keane was on his way to Tottenham Hotspur, in a £7 million deal.
After a turbulent few years, which had brough five different clubs in three years, Keane spent the next six years at Tottenham, by far his longest ever stint at one club. His years of service were awarded as he was awarded the captaincy in years to come. He made 197 league appearances in his first spell at White Hart Lane, scoring 80 times. These goals also saw him join the very exclusive list, of players to score 100 Premier League goals. This time has to be seen as the most successful of his career, as he won numerous player of the month awards, became Ireland's all time leading goalscorer, and won his only major piece of silverware to date, the League Cup.
Despite his fantastic report with the Spurs fans, and White Hart Lane becoming his 'spiritual home', the chance to join Liverpool, 11 years after refusing them for Wolves, was to much to resist. In what was considered Benitez's last roll of the dice at Liverpool, he shelled out £20 million for Keane in the summer of 2008. However, the image above of a frustrated Keane on the Kop subs bench, became a recurring reality.
He made just 19 league appearances, scoring five times, before again moving on deadline day. On February 2nd 2009, he returned to Tottenham once again, for £16 million. He was immediately reinstated as captain, and Harry Redknapp's decision to re-sign was greeted with a great reaction from the fans. He was the third player to be re-signed by Tottenham in the window, with Jermain Defoe and Pascal Chimbonda. He has scored eleven Premier League goals since returning to Spurs, and helped them move up the table and comfortably away from the drop zone in the second half of the 2008-09 season.
But last season, he was on the move again. Having fallen behind Defoe, Crouch and Pavlyuchenko in the pecking order, he decided to join Celtic on a six month loan deal. He reminded everyone of his goal scoring pedigree during this time, bagging 12 in 16 in the SPL. It was expected Keane would leave Tottenham permanently in the summer just gone by, but after impressing in pre-season he stayed. He was linked with a deadline day loan move to Newcastle United.
He is currently fighting to win back his place in the Tottenham side. But wherever his career takes him from here, he has a lot of great memories, at a range of clubs. He now has over 100 caps for Ireland, and 44 goals. It speaks volumes for his personality, that he is still highly thought of at every single one of his former clubs, and despite what happens in the coming month's, will go down as a Tottenham Hotspur hero. Given that at still only 30, he has played for five different Premier League clubs, and seven in all, he without doubt, a successful Premier League journeyman!
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