We’ve been doing the number crunching on Robbie Keane’s move to the US. Looks like there are pros and cons to the big deal.
£75 million – the amount of money clubs have spent on Robbie Keane during his career, with LA Galaxy’s £3.5 million taking it up to that magical milestone. Liverpool coughed up £20.3 million, Inter splurged £13 million and Leeds United – remember them? – outlayed £12 million. His latest move comes just two-and-a-half years after Spurs agreed a £12 million deal, rising to £16 million depending on clauses which presumably were not met, for his signature. How the mighty have fallen.
$86,500 – His weekly earnings, which equates to about £52,000 a week.
4 – His place in the pecking order of America’s best-paid soccer stars. Only Galaxy teammate David Beckham and the New York Red Bulls pair of Ireland’s most-wanted Thierry Henry and former Barcelona defender Rafa Marquez earn more.
4 – The amount of times a move has been a “dream come true”. Liverpool, Celtic and Spurs were all dream moves for Robbie, and having left his signature on a piece of paper in LA on Monday night he admitted that he had always dreamed of playing in the MLS. Although only since he was 16, one suspects, as the MLS didn’t exist before 1996.
10,348 miles – The round-trip distance Robbie will have to fly to get home to play for his country. It’s an 11-hour flight one-way.
9 – The number of professional clubs Robbie has signed for to date including LA Galaxy. He started out with Wolves, then onto Coventry City, Inter Milan, Leeds United, Spurs, Liverpool, back to Spurs, on loan with Celtic and West Ham.
9 – The number he is likely to wear for the Galaxy. It’s currently used by Juan Pablo Angel but it’s likely that he’ll be shafted. Landon Donovan wears 10 and Jovan Kirovski wears seven, so you can rule both of those out.
00353 – The prefix number Robbie will need to key into his phone to call home from the US. Followed by the area code without the “0” and then the phone number.
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