Despite amassing transfer fees in excess of £75m moving between seven different clubs, Republic of Ireland international Robbie Keane finally found his ‘spiritual home’ at White Hart Lane and Tottenham in 2002.

After brief spells at Wolves, Coventry, Inter Milan and Leeds, hotshot Keane moved to North London from Yorkshire for £7m eight years ago and immediately made an impression with some electric performances in his debut season with Spurs. He went onto be named the club’s Player of the Year on three occasions and also became the first Tottenham player to score double figures over six consecutive seasons in the Premier League. In his first spell at the club the Irishman netted an impressive 107 times in 254 appearances, with 23 in 54 in 2007-08.

His performances attracted interest from Liverpool who promptly paid over £20m for the striker, who was tipped to form a lethal partnership with Spanish star Fernando Torres at Anfield. Yet after six months, seven goals and a failure to convince coach Rafael Benitez of his credentials, Keane’s move was dubbed a complete disaster and he returned to Tottenham with his tail firmly tucked between his legs.

Ireland’s greatest ever-goal failed to recapture his form on his return to Tottenham and was loaned out to Celtic for the second-half of last season. After being linked with a move to Aston Villa and Newcastle over the summer, Keane has made just one league start this season. Reports have also surfaced of a furious dressing room bust-up with manager Harry Redknapp after the striker missed a glorious chance to equalise with minutes remaining in a defeat to West Ham last month. Keane is badly struggling with confidence and has admitted he currently finds international football a release from his frustrations at club level:

“When you are not playing games, it’s very difficult,” said Keane. “I love playing football and find it hard when I’m not playing, but you have to get your head down and work hard in training, which I always do.

“I keep myself fit. You only get sharpness through playing games, and I have not played a lot lately, but the one thing is that I am fresh.

“When you are not involved at club level, it is a release to come over here and play games, so it’s something you look forward to.”

Spurs currently have a glittering array of attacking talent which simply cannot be accommodated in the same starting XI. Even with the absence of first-team regular Jermain Defoe, Keane has found playing time limited. Former Hammer Redknapp has preferred the strike partnership of Roman Pavlyuchenko and England international Peter Crouch on the majority of occasions, while a five-man midfield with new signing Rafael van der Vaart playing as a second striker has also been experimented with.

With the Dutch maestro from Madrid signing with just hours remaining on transfer deadline day, there was simply not enough time to offload an attacker to balance the books. It now seems however that the man who could make way this winter is Keane, who has had a spectacular fall from grace after being dropped as the club’s captain shortly after his return to White Hart Lane.

At 30, Keane will not want the later stages of his career warming the bench or have his chances limited to substitute appearances. It is now likely the former Coventry star will make an exit this January unless he is given more first-team chances. The club will have a hectic fixture list to contend with given their involvement in the Champions League and Keane may yet be given his chance. A club insider revealed however that Keane no longer knows where his lies following his dressing room bust-up with his manager, he revealed:

“It was pretty heated in the dressing room, but it’s part and parcel of the game.

“Robbie’s the sort of player who will always stick up for himself, but he’s not sure where his future is.”

There is no room for sentiment in football and despite the forward’s previously undisputed scoring record at White Hart Lane, his performances since returning to the club have been distinctly average. It may be time for Keane to move on once more before his stock amongst Spurs increasingly doubtful fans falls even further.

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