(Tottenham striker Robbie Keane was a boyhood Liverpool fan.)
Robbie Keane moved closer to his dream transfer to Liverpool yesterday as the Merseysiders prepared to make an offer worth in the region of £20m for the striker and Juande Ramos, the Tottenham manager, admitted that his club would be duty bound to consider it.
Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, has identified Keane as a realistic target - he envisages him forming a partnership up front with Fernando Torres - and as the club's move for the Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry encounters difficulties they have made Keane their priority signing.
Tottenham have maintained that neither Keane nor Dimitar Berbatov, their other leading striker who is the subject of a £20m bid from Manchester United as well as reported interest from Barcelona, is for sale. They have not encouraged the interest in either player and the chairman, Daniel Levy, will play hard ball with their suitors. United will have to increase their offer for Berbatov but Sir Alex Ferguson, their manager, is confident of getting the Bulgarian.
"We have made Tottenham an offer on Berbatov and we have good expectations that this deal will go through," he was quoted as saying by the Sun. "Berbatov has been impressive during a long time and would be a great addition to our attack."
Liverpool reason that having sold Peter Crouch to Portsmouth for £11m, and with funds tight, their urgent need is for a replacement striker. They had hoped to sell the midfielder Xabi Alonso to Juventus to swell the transfer kitty but the Italian club signed Christian Poulsen from Sevilla instead and have declared that their summer spending is over. Although Liverpool still want Barry, who is also desperate to join them, they have refused to pay Villa's asking price of £18m. The Barry saga has rumbled on since the end of last season to damaging effect and Liverpool, who have opened a channel of communication with Tottenham, do not want a repeat over Keane. They intend to act decisively.