So much for not having funds to throw around.
Today, Liverpool completed the £20.3 million ($40.5 million) transfer of Republic of Ireland captain Robbie Keane. The 28-year-old is Tottenham’s first significant sale of the summer after the North London club splashed money on Luka Modric, Giovani Dos Santos and Heurelho Gomes.
Tottenham appears bitter over the sale of Keane, although they did drop the complaint they lodged over Liverpool’s conduct in the transaction.
"I have already made my opinion clear on the nature of this transaction," Spurs chairman Daniel Levy said. "I don’t regard it as a transfer deal – that is something which happens between two clubs when they both agree to trade – this is very much an enforced sale, for which we have agreed a sum of £19million as compensation plus a potential further £1.3million in additional compensation."
The move comes in the wake of Peter Crouch’s £11 million ($21.7 million) Portsmouth switch, although the two were not completely similar players. It was thought that Rafa Benitez would acquire Gareth Barry, which could have moved Steven Gerrard up to second striker where he’s done well, but the decision to keep Xabi Alonso ruled out that purchase.
This, however, is just as legitimate a move as Keane has enjoyed considerable success in recent years. He has reached double-digits in league goals (15 in 2007-08) each of the past six seasons and has totaled 107 goals for Tottenham in all competitions. After several seasons as the goal-sparse team among the Big Four, Liverpool now have attacking options to go with the best in Britain with Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel, Andriy Voronin and new purchase David N’Gog already in the stable.
Word still hasn’t come on where exactly the money for Keane came from as goalkeeper Scott Carson was sold to West Brom for less than expected ($6.5 million) and the Reds were believed to be spending only as much money as Benitez brought in.
This would seem to rule out Liverpool financially from making a move on Spanish winger David Silva, but I suppose you can never say never as not many expected such lavish spending at Anfield (I personally expected them to be priced out on Keane or get him for a relative bargain.) Other collateral damage incurred is that Tottenham appear unlikely now to sell Dimitar Berbatov, unless, of course, Samuel Eto’o is on his way to White Hart Lane.
Was that figure too much for Spurs to turn down or did Liverpool get a fair price? Should Levy keep his mouth shut after accepting the deal or do you appreciate when people denounce aggressive tactics from big clubs? Does this move upgrade Liverpool into legitimate contention for the EPL title or do they still need more depth defensively and on the wings? Share your thoughts below.