BY ADAM SERRANO
The Los Angeles Galaxy has officially agreed to terms with Ireland international forward Robbie Keane on Monday morning.
The terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but the Dublin native will be added to the club's roster pending the receipt of his P-1 Visa. Keane joins the Galaxy as a designated player, which means that he will be added pending the trade of Juan Pablo Angel.
“I am delighted, honored and very excited to be joining the LA Galaxy, I have always wanted to come and play in MLS so it’s the perfect combination for me and a dream come true," Keane said in a press release.
Keane joins the Galaxy just one day before the team is set to take part in the CONCACAF Champions League group stages. Los Angeles opens the tournament at home against Honduran side Montagua and it is likely that Keane will play a role in the coming matches.
Currently the Galaxy sit in first place in MLS, a full five points ahead of second place FC Dallas.For a team that is focused on lifting the MLS Cup at the Home Depot Center this season, the addition of Keane is immense.
“Robbie Keane will be a great addition to our club. I have followed his career and have always respected his ability as a competitor and a goalscorer,” Galaxy General Manager and Head Coach Bruce Arena said. “I believe that he brings qualities in and around the penalty area that we have been lacking. Hopefully, he will be another piece of the puzzle in our quest for the Supporters’ Shield and an MLS Cup championship as well as to advance to the next round of the CONCACAF Champions League.”
The Irish international arrives in Los Angeles with a high pedigree having scored 250 goals both for club and internationally since the start of his career in 1997.
Keane, who comes to the Galaxy from Tottenham admitted that currently Galaxy midfielder David Beckham convinced him to consider the club while Beckham trained with Spurs in early 2011.
"When David Beckham came and trained at Spurs recently he couldn't speak highly enough about the Galaxy, their fans and the league in general," Keane added. "so I can’t wait to get over and get started.”
All I have to say is…SO WHAT? What does it matter if MLS doesn’t report it on it’s website? What difference does that make? It still happened, right? And yeah it was reported on here (kinda), on Ives’ twitter. Ives generally doesn’t post an article on here until it’s official or he will just throw it in during a Midday Ticker kind of post. It was also on Sky Sports and elsewhere.
And sorry when you said: “DP who was captain of his national team” for some reason I thought you said European in there, which obviously got me to think Keane.
I feel bad for you. Second time and you still didn’t get it.
African DP gets headlines and articles days in advance on MLS site and here. PERIOD.
Keane signs with LA, NO HEADLINES HERE OR MLS WEBSITE.
At no point did I mention Keane going to Vancouver, rumor or not. I was taking one example of how MLS reports (African DP) and comparing it to today’s events (Keane signing in LA).
Usually I don’t type with big letters but I guess that’s the only way you’ll understand.
Again, MLS circle jerking or not circle-jerking itself with self-promotion through it’s writers on it’s website with rumours/stories about potential transfers/deals doesn’t have much to with this Keane to LA deal.
MLS didn’t report on a supposed Robbie Keane to Vancouver deal? Ooooh big effing deal! CONSPIRACY! MLS doesn’t want any other teams to have big name players besides NY and LA!
You ever think that the Keane to Vancouver rumor was just that, a rumor?
Plus even if a deal is about to happen, MLS isn’t going to steal it’s own thunder and announce (or hint at) it way before it’s actually a done and finalized deal.
Read what I just wrote again, or don’t. Regardless, you completely missed the point.
The whole mlssoccer.com having and paying for writers/reporters (Borg, Saghini, Lalas, etc.) that report on transfer rumors and write opinion articles about MLS teams, MLS rules/policies, and refs is kinda odd, but it has nothing to do with the Keane to LA deal.
Maybe Vancouver did try to come with an agreement with Keane. I don’t really care. They probably couldn’t come to an agreement on money (I’m saying that just based on how much LA is reportedly paying him). MLS doesn’t have to tell you why a certain team couldn’t finalize a deal with a certain mystery player.
It’s funny that you are so passionate about defending the honor of the MLS. The league has a track record of odd behavior, this is just another example.
Whenever anything of moderate interest is about to happen the MLS website puts up teaser articles so people constantly check in. Remember when Vancouver was going to sign a DP who was captain of his national team? That was a month ago. With Keane, nothing. Not a blip anywhere except FSC. Hell, Ives didn’t even have a post about it!
It’s odd. I don’t care if you disagree.
he is washed up…no one else wanted him…and now he is playing in Minor League Soccer…
Also, Keane isn’t past it. In 10 appearances with (a very bad) West Ham, he scored twice.
7 of those appearances were subs. So in 3 full starts, he scored twice.
“I’m fine with this as long as Keane changes up his stupid goal scoring cartwheel-somersault BS (And no, I thought the archery schtick was lame, too.)”
He’s long since gotten rid of both celebrations. He now kisses his wrist, where there is a tattoo with his son’s birth date and tattoo.
You seem to be the ones with your panties in a bunch.
Look JPA is gone and now Keane is on board. 3 DP’s. And again the deadline is for the finalization and the submittal of the deal, not the announcement of it. LA Galaxy (and MLS, remember this is single-entity) probably agreed to a deal yesterday or Saturday and it was just announced today. I can’t recall the last time MLS or a team announced a player deal over the weekend.
Is that really a fair comment to make about the Galaxy?
I can see it if you were to say it about the NYRB, but the Galaxy have shown time and time again that they can often play just as good or better when they are missing Beckham and or Donovan. Arena has built a pretty good team that plays really well most of the time when Beckham and Donovan are gone, which is quite often. The rest of the team are mostly cheap and young developing players.
You could just as easily say some other teams are trying to “purchase” a championship except it isn’t working for them because they didn’t have a good team built before adding the final touches with DP’s. If your team can maintain it’s top position with relative ease when it’s DP’s are gone I hardly think they are “purchasing” a championship. Anyway, as someone already commented, it doesn’t work. NYRB can’t even win with Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez. They couldn’t even make use of Derosario.
It’s interesting to see how different perspectives can be. Some people not so long ago were calling the Galaxy a bunch of washed up old dudes.
Magee is playing the best I’ve ever seen him play. don’t see why this move will change that and sure hope it doesn’t. could be many games upcoming for this team, opportunities for all. The Galaxy need Mike Magee to keep rising now more than ever.
Looking forward to the next episode of “Special1tv”. “Here’s our next caller….Robbie in LA.”
SBI = Sub Bovine Intelligence
How is he washed up? He JUST turned 31, still has a decent scoring record, not to mention they only took him on for a two year deal, meaning when he turns 33 they can release him if he is no longer “cutting it”.
They said the same about Angel when he joined the Red Bulls at 31 years old. He then spent the next four seasons as one of the highest scorers in MLS.
bowie gargles
This is not Nam Brian, there are rules. I’d like to know if everything is above board.
No connection, total guess. And Ives is now saying it’s a smaller cap hit for younger DPs. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow if it’s just that or if they’re making some other changes (LA-related or not!)
Paying Monteto more will only make him lazier. Ask Carlos Ruiz.
Brian, why are you yelling? Don’t get upset, everything is going to be alright.
Calm the eff down.
Who gives a sh*t if GALAXY maybe had 4 DPs for like an hour?
OH GOD! IT WAS AN HOUR LATER THAN YOU WANTED IT TO BE!!!!
The deadline was midnight (eastern) last night. I’m sure everything was signed, sealed, and delivered by then. They just waited until today to make the announcement. Save the conspiracy theories for Fox news, m’kay?
Fishy that San Jose announced their signing of Zura today. Was that done after the deadline. Investigate!!
I read the visa can take two weeks.
Your probably gouing to be right ……. you konw do you have some kind of close connection to MLS HQ? Because that prediction seems pretty good…. almost too good….
truthfully, Garber probably had to grovel to Vergara to get him to take Angel. My guess is that the salary numbers didnt work out for any other team except the one that seems to owe Galaxy a few things….such as rent! I read that Galaxy will pay most of JPA’s salary. Does that relate to the REMAINDER of his salary, or simply stating the fact that since most of the playing year has passed that Galaxy thus pays most of his pay? The league needs to unload Vergara, as well as declare that only one team by one ownership group so as free Dallas or Crew from the dull Hunt ownership group
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_Keane
Apparently He has already played and scored for LAG
Cynical prediction: MLS DP rule change tomorrow allows extra DPs in some form or fashion if they’re under 30…so league spins it as an attempt to attract exciting young talent, and LA gets 4 DPs through the rest of the season b/c of Landon’s age.
Actual prediction: some sort of cost-sharing agreement to encourage more teams to sign DPs, as well as perhaps an increase in the number of DPs allowable. The ultimate effect being a de facto increase in the salary cap without messing with the CBA…which to me would be a good move.
dont forget that this is also about winning CONCACAF, not just MLS Cup…this guy will be a handful for Mexican/Central American defenders….
Don’t forget that a LA Galaxy/Barcelona match in the World Club Championship is high on AEG’s agenda!!!!
OH ok, I was about to ask how they signed him after the deadline when I saw this! 😀
Mitch swallows!
The league owns the contracts, every signing is a league announcement. Keane was a rumor for days, but certain pieces needed to fall in to place to pull it off. It was never mentioned that Angel would end up at Chivas. I want definitive answers to the following questions.
1. Did they sign Keane before midnight?
2. Did they dump Angel before midnight?
3. Did LA have 4DP’s at any given time?
4. What happened to Philly?
Actually feel bad for Donovan, Keane is good but shouldnt be making more than young Don.
Add Bolton 2 that, If u dont think that LA isnt getting a much better player in Keane u are completely delusional.
Ummm, this isn’t a league announcement. It’s more of a Galaxy announcement. So it doesn’t surprise me at all. And if you haven’t been following the news, most people already knew it was a done deal by yesterday.
MLS is based in NY, not LA. I’d expect an announcement of that magnitude by 9am ET at the latest. Of course the Galaxy owner is going to say that, it’s his team that benefits from bending the rules.
Seen a lot on here about how can they get around the transfer deadline. You have to remember that players don’t sign with the club they sign with the league, MLS. Keane signed with MLS before the deadline ended over the weekend. Meanwhile, LA had to find a trade deal with JPA to make the space for the DP slot which didn’t get done until today. So technically speaking for one or two days Keane had now team and was only signed to MLS, until today. Welcome to Single-Entity MLSonomics 101, but most on this board already know this.
That’s 7 AM Pacific Time. And do you really think that there would be an announcement over the weekend.
And this is what the Galaxy president had to say yesterday via Twitter:
“Obviously the deadline is tonight at 11:59 pm EST, but any announcement of player signings would likely be tmmw.”
Mcgee??? Are you sick, my man???
Its not a completely a bad example b/c they did develop a majority of the team in La Masia. Messi,Xavi,Iniesta,Puyol,Pedro,Busquets,Pique,Fabs,Valdes,Thiago.even PEP for that matter are all part of the academy ….the bad part of it is that they could afford keeping homegrown talent. Barca hasnt bought championships, they kept and plugged to win them. No other powerhouse team in the world has as many homegrown talents as Barca. Unique in that aspect. Great signing by LA, major impact on and off the field, not that they need it off but a couple more thousands of people will come out to see LA.
this stinks of rancid fish
I know your right, I don’t know why people are curious about his play he’s still a good striker at his age and could play for another 2-3 seasons.
I don’t think that JoeW’s point was that Barca exists on a shoestring budget. His point was that Barca’s roster consists of primarily homegrown talent (i.e., players that they developed through their youth academy – Messi, Xavi, Inesta, Pique, Busquets, Puyol, Valdez, Thiago, even Fabergas who was “discovered” by Wenger, while playing at La Masia), while LA Galaxy primarily relies on purchasing players. Size of the payroll and ability to develop players are two different things.
Wasn’t announced until after 10am ET. FISHY.
The cynicism on this site is hysterical.
I’m pretty sure he signed before the window closed. The announcement was just made today.
Dodgers blow
Where is Marcito Papa?