Reports gathering pace from both The Daily Mail and the Mirror suggest that Robbie Keane will become a Leicester City player within the next 48 hours.
If Keane signs for the Championship club, it will represent Sven-Goran Eriksson’s biggest capture of the summer at the club, and is hoping to convince the Republic of Ireland international to take a step down in division by offering a lucrative salary in order to get his man.
Leicester have now targeted Keane in response to their failure to sign another Republic of Ireland international striker, Shane Long, who instead chose to join West Brom earlier this week in a £7 million deal. They have also had three bids rejected by Bristol City for their forward, Nicky Maynard. Eriksson, who has already signed 11 players during this close-season, still feels they need to bring in a proven goalscorer: ‘I always said if we can get a striker with a good goal-scoring record, we are going to try. If there is a proven striker who can score 20 goals, then we will work hard to bring him in’.
Robbie Keane is now thought to be that man and an initial bid of around £3 million has been made. Although the transfer fee seems low, Tottenham are looking to reduce their already high wage bill and allowing Keane to leave would reduce that figure significantly.
If Keane moves, Leicester represent his 9th professional club – alongside Wolves, Coventry, Inter Milan, Tottenham, Liverpool, Celtic (loan) and West Ham (loan), amassing nearly £80 million in total transfer fees paid for his signature.
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