We know that the Robbie Keane ‘boyhood club’ thing is overplayed a bit too much, but sometimes the Irish captain doesn’t help himself.
On completing his loan move to Aston Villa today, Keane told the club’s official website: “I’m delighted to be back in the Premier League.
“This is only short-term, of course, but there has been a lot of speculation over the years linking my name to Villa and, finally, I’m here.
“Villa is a great club, a club with a massive tradition and standing in the game and Villa Park is one of the finest stadiums I’ve ever played in.”
If we were being cynical, we could suggest that Robbie was reading the same quotes he has used on joining every club in his career to date and merely replacing X with Aston Villa, but we’ll just be happy to see the Irish captain get some game time at a high level before the Euros in the summer.
As he had trained with the Villains for the last number of days, Keane’s signing was an inevitable one and he could be involved as early as this weekend against Everton, where he could go face to face with LA Galaxy teammate Landon ‘Landycakes’ Donovan.
“If selected to play on Saturday, I will genuinely be looking forward to it and I’ll be excited to be involved again in Premier League action,” Robbie added.
“I’ve been training with the players here for the past few days and it’s been great but I’m not naive enough to think I’ll just walk straight into the team.”
Keane will have to a certain amount of dusting off the cobwebs when he pulls on the Villa jersey for the first time as he hasn’t played a competitive game since the Galaxy won the MLS Cup way back in November.
He will, of course, be linking up with Irish teammates Shay Given, Richard Dunne and Ciaran Clark, as well as international exile Stephen Ireland and recent signing from Shamrock Rovers, Enda Stevens, bringing the Irish contingent at Villa Park up to a level not seen since the McGrath, Staunton, Houghton and Townsend era of the early 90s.
