Welcome to Last Word on Football’s Returning Players’ collection. In this version, we check out Republic of Ireland legend, Robbie Keane.
Keane turned out for Tottenham Hotspur from 2002 till 2008, when he joined Liverpool, however returned to North London six months later. On his return to Tottenham, Robbie Keane performed for Tottenham from 2009 till 2011.
Returning Players – Robbie Keane
First Spell at Tottenham
Robbie Keane was simply 22-years-previous when Tottenham secured a £7 million deal to signal the Irish striker. Despite that, he had already gained an excessive amount of expertise within the high flight.
Robbie Keane first emerged from the Wolves academy and had already established himself as a primary-group common at simply 17 years of age, whereas ending because the groups high scorer in his first two seasons within the First Division. Such kind from the younger striker attracted the eye of Premier League facet Coventry City in 1999.
Keane would spend one season with the Sky Blues, adopted by additional seasons at Inter Milan in Serie A and Leeds United, with the latter a mortgage transfer changing into everlasting.
But his spectacular shows caught the attention of Spurs. In Keane’s first season at White Hart Lane, he was the membership’s high scorer with 13 targets as Tottenham completed tenth. He remained a constant determine for Tottenham within the seasons that adopted. In 2003/04 Tottenham started the season in poor kind and supervisor Glen Hoddle was sacked. Tottenham failed to fulfill expectations that season and completed in 14th place. Keane loved one other profitable particular person season and his 14 targets had been very important to conserving Tottenham within the Premier League.
Keane’s greatest season for Tottenham would come underneath the administration of Martin Jol in 2005/06. Tottenham had been determined to shake off the tag of being mid-desk underachievers within the Premier League and the partnership with Jermain Defoe started to thrive that season. Robbie Keane would get pleasure from his most prolific league season in his Tottenham profession with 16 league targets.
For a lot of the season, Tottenham occupied the essential fourth spot within the Premier League, however they had been pipped to the place on the ultimate recreation of the season by arch-rivals Arsenal. A key consider Tottenham lacking out on the decisive spot was meals poisoning which left a number of key gamers out for the ultimate recreation of the season.
Tottenham would once more end fifth the next marketing campaign. Keane continued to be a key member of the group, however his function concerned him dropping deeper at instances to create possibilities for Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov. After a poor begin in 2007/08, Martin Jol was sacked and changed by former Real Madrid supervisor Juande Ramos. It proved to be a poor season within the league for Tottenham as they completed within the backside half.
However, Tottenham had been profitable domestically and Robbie Keane was in a position to get his first piece of silverware. The Irish striker performed a key function in serving to his facet carry the League Cup in 2008 with a 2-1 victory over London rivals Chelsea.
Keane’s 15 targets within the 2007/08 marketing campaign made him the primary Tottenham participant to hit double figures in six consecutive Premier League seasons. He would finish his first spell at Tottenham with 80 targets in 197 Premier League video games.
Teams Keane Played for in Between
Keane’s super kind and consistency throughout his time at Tottenham quickly caught the attention of Liverpool supervisor Rafa Benitez. Fernando Torres had torn Premier League defences aside in the course of the 2007/08 marketing campaign and it was hoped that the addition of Robbie Keane as his strike accomplice would propel Liverpool to the title forward of Manchester United.
Keane was signed by Liverpool for a price of £19 million in summer season 2008. However, regardless of the thrill surrounding Keane, he by no means actually settled into Benitez’s system at Anfield and was typically performed out of place on the wing. He scored seven targets in six months at Liverpool and returned to Tottenham for £12 million in January 2009.
Return to Tottenham
When Robbie Keane left Tottenham in the summertime of 2008, they had been a membership heading for a disaster. Despite the very fact they’d received the League Cup in February, their league kind had been dreadful in the direction of the tip of the 2007/08 marketing campaign.
At the beginning of the 2008/09 season, Tottenham had been caught within the backside three positions and regarded nicely off the tempo. The watershed second of the season occurred when Harry Redknapp left Portsmouth to switch Juande Ramos at White Hart Lane. From the second Redknapp arrived in North London, outcomes started to select up and Tottenham rose up the league desk.
When Robbie Keane returned to Tottenham in January 2009, he would hyperlink up with former strike accomplice Jermain Defoe who was re-signed from Portsmouth. Keane would rating 5 targets within the second half of the 2008/09 marketing campaign as Tottenham completed in eighth place.
The following marketing campaign was massively profitable for Tottenham as they completed fourth within the league, securing Champions League soccer for the next season. The first time the membership had certified for the competitors for the reason that 1961/62 season. However, Keane struggled to ascertain himself as a primary-group common and was primarily seen as again up all through the season with the likes of Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko all being repeatedly rotated within the Tottenham group all through the season.
Robbie Keane spent the tip of the 2009/10 marketing campaign on mortgage at Celtic the place he scored 12 targets in 16 appearances. He by no means appeared to be on the identical degree that he was at in his first spell in North London and once more struggled for first-group soccer in the course of the 2010/11 marketing campaign. After simply seven appearances within the first half of the season, Keane was once more loaned out, this time becoming a member of West Ham United scoring two targets in 9 appearances for The Hammers as they completed backside of the Premier League.
Despite being much less profitable in his second spell at White Hart Lane, Keane is considered as among the finest strikers to have performed for Tottenham within the fashionable period. Robbie Keane is Tottenham’s third-highest Premier League goalscorer with a report of 91 targets in 238 appearances and ended his tenure in North London with a complete of 122 targets in 305 outings.
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