it's not even rafa who wanted to sign him. it's rick
Actually, Rafa did want him and Barry... Keane was to replace
Crouch... Barry was for Alonso... When Villa refused to sell Barry,
Alonso had to stay back despite Juve being keen to take him...
Or maybe even Arsenal... only the price didn't work out.
Rick on the other hand, as the CEO... Had to get both or either
one. So, he manage to get one of the targets tho not the preferred
one. But it was still one of the 2 targets... No fault of his if
Villa really didn't want to sell.
Boss Rafa Benitez, for all his veiled suggestions to the
contrary, DID
want Keane. He was NOT merely an alternative when
attempts to land Barry from Aston Villa were scuppered.
Benitez had identified the
then-Spurs frontman as a key addition last season. The Spaniard was
determined to bring him AND Barry to Liverpool,
with the sale of Peter Crouch and Xabi Alonso funding
it.
When Crouch joined Portsmouth, in came Keane to fill the gap up
front. When Alonso stayed put, the Kop boss was told the money was
not available to bring in the Villa skipper too. Benitez was not
pleased and — if he had to choose just one — Barry would have been
the man.
From that moment Keane, very much a pawn in the political game
which is tearing Anfield apart, was on a hiding to nothing. Last
night it led to Liverpool taking an £8million hit on the deal when
he rejoined Spurs for just £12m.
But while Keane, 28, himself would admit he has never hit the
heights, there are certain excuses for his failing. After arriving
as supposedly the perfect partner for Fernando Torres — backed up
by their display in a stunning pre-season win at Rangers — he was
then used on the right in another friendly win over
Valerenga.
Benitez likes his players to perform in a variety of positions.
Witness Dirk Kuyt’s role as the prime example, going from central
attacker to right wing.
Keane simply was not a wide man, so that was one box left
unticked. True, he did not make the immediate impact everyone hoped
and expected for a man who cost £20m. But it took Peter Beardsley
three months to take off when he signed, in 1987, yet no one farmed
him out as a flop. Torres’ battles with injuries meant the
partnership never got off the ground.
So how ironic that when the Spaniard rediscovers his shooting
boots, Keane is sold the next day. When Keane slipped a superb
through ball for David Ngog to score against PSV Eindhoven in
December, fans were salivating at what he would provide for Torres
when he was back.
It was a chance that never came. If, heaven forbid, Torres’
hamstring does sideline him at any stage in the second half of the
campaign, it will hardly be the most potent strikeforce Liverpool
have ever taken into Europe.
Should that be the case it is a safe bet the Koppites who have
sided with Benitez through all the in-fighting will not be belting
out his name with quite as much gusto. To say the least.
