Robbie Keane’s inevitable move to Liverpool has been completed amidst plenty of ill-feeling from Spurs.
The striker agreed terms and passed a medical at Anfield earlier today after a fee of around £19 million had been accepted by Spurs. However, their chairman Daniel Levy, remarked that he didn’t see it as a transfer deal. He claims that Liverpool had been working behind the scenes to prise Keane from the London club and that the player had handed in a transfer request as a result. Messy stuff.
For fantasy managers all that matters now is just how this transfer will affect both Liverpool and Spurs for the coming season.
Keane’s arrival is undoubtedly a major coup for Liverpool. He is a proven Premiership player and in many ways a perfect foil for the deadly Fernando Torres.
In terms of points output, Keane should hold firm this term with 30+ starts seemingly likely at Anfield. Last season, the striker returned 15 goals and 7 assists in 33 games for Spurs and I can see a similar return in Liverpool colours, although alongside Torres, the goals tally could well drop a tad with the assist count increasing to 10+.
On paper, Torres should prosper from Keane’s arrival. The Spaniard scored 24 goals in 29 starts without a regular partner. The creativity that Keane will bring should help maintain or even boost that tally. However, there is also the view that the new arrival will draw goals from Torres’ total. Add this to the fact that defenders will be wiser to the ability of Torres and I can see the Liverpool man achieving slightly fewer goals over slightly more games.
The other player that could well be affected by Keane’s arrival at Anfield is Steven Gerrard. To assess this, we need to make the futile step of trying to read how Rafa will approach his team selection and tactics next season.
At first glance it looks likely that Benetiz will resort to a simple 4-4-2 with Keane up alongside the Spaniard. However, Liverpool went with a 4-3-3 for the tail-end of last season, with Kuyt and Babel either side of Torres and Gerrard pushed forward to support the front man. The tactic proved devastating both in terms of results and the returns of both Torres and Gerrard. Could Keane fit into a similar tactic?
Rafa has already hinted that Babel is set to play a more central role in the side next season, despite missing the first two games after involvement in the Olympics with Holland. Does that mean that Keane could drift out wide with Kuyt possibly frozen out?
Someone is certain to miss out but Mascherano and Gerrard are surely untouchable in the centre of midfield, with Alonso and Lucas providing strong backup. That leaves Babel, Kuyt, Benayoun and Pennant to compete for remaining wide positions if Rafa opts for the 4-4-2.
For me though, I can’t see Rafa pursuing this. A 4-4-2 would hamper the impact that Gerrard can have on a game and with Benitez courting Gareth Barry for so long, I would wager that he intends to play a midfeld three with Gerrard, Mascherano and Alonso/Lucas getting the nod. That would see Liverpool adopting a similar tactic to the 4-3-3 of last season and would find Keane drifting in to support Torres from a wider position, with Babel and Kuyt competing for the other spot beside Torres. More significantly, it would see Gerrard given the licence to bomb forward alongside Torres as he did so effectively last season.
The remaining pre-season games may well offer further clues but with Babel, Lucas and Mascherano all involved in the Olympics for the first two games, it’s clear that we’ll have no definitive answers on Rafa’s thoughts until 3-4 games into the season.
As for Spurs, today’s deal is a major blow to their season. Ramos will need to act fast to plug the huge gap left by Keane otherwise it seems inevitable that Berbatov will follow Keane out of the door.
There has been suggestions that the Spurs boss may opt for a similar tactic as Liverpool with a lone striker flanked by Giovanni and Modric. That may well be the case but if so, it seems likely that Ramos will have to go shopping for that striker or fall back on Darren Bent. On that front there is rumour that David Moyes is eyeing up Bent with the cash earned from today’s sale of Andrew Johnson.
It seems likely that today’s move will prove a catalyst to a string of further big money moves, not least because Spurs need to act. We can only await developments.