was / is keane worth 20 million?

[Kenneth]

Really?

Have you considered El Hadji Diouf?

Yep tough call, he was complete turd and we lost about 6 or 7 million on him over 2 seasons. We'd lost that much on Keane before he even kicked a ball for us as he was so over-priced.

[Red Chilli]

Yep tough call, he was complete turd and we lost about 6 or 7 million on him over 2 seasons. We'd lost that much on Keane before he even kicked a ball for us as he was so over-priced.

El Hadji Diouf actually caused our club to have a diminished value with his disgraceful behaviour to opponents and fans. That is more important than any monetary loss made on him.
If you look at the times at which both players were signed, 11 million for El Hadji Diouf, in the football market, is probably not that different to 20 million for Keane.

[tomasjj]

I really can't see the point of judging people so early in their LFC careers. I really think that this sort of discussion is pretty pointless until the end of the season.

Thing is, we bought Keane for a premium price because he is used to the PL and thus would hit the ground running, or at least not take long to settle.

Subjective, I know, but I reckon we could have bought a younger foreigner og higher quality and he still would have done as well as Keane has done so far.

Keane did not set his price tag, however, 20 millions buys quality, so there are bound to be expectations tied to that price tag.

[Craig_H]

Thing is, we bought Keane for a premium price because he is used to the PL and thus would hit the ground running, or at least not take long to settle.

Subjective, I know, but I reckon we could have bought a younger foreigner og higher quality and he still would have done as well as Keane has done so far.

Keane did not set his price tag, however, 20 millions buys quality, so there are bound to be expectations tied to that price tag.

Agree with every word.

I dont want to have a go at Keane, but his contribution so far has been inadequate. The Crouch situation when he first joined, gives me hope that Robbie will come good.

[Dhav]

Thing is, we bought Keane for a premium price because he is used to the PL and thus would hit the ground running, or at least not take long to settle.

Subjective, I know, but I reckon we could have bought a younger foreigner og higher quality and he still would have done as well as Keane has done so far.

Keane did not set his price tag, however, 20 millions buys quality, so there are bound to be expectations tied to that price tag.

Absolutely. I said at the time if we're going to go as high as £20m for Keane we might as well have put in another £7-10m in and bought a truly world class creative player.

The money spent on Keane looks more and more like money down the drain with each passing match, money that could have been much better spent elsewhere. The man needs to seriously up his game.

[tomasjj]

Absolutely. I said at the time if we're going to go as high as £20m for Keane we might as well have put in another £7-10m in and bought a truly world class creative player.

The money spent on Keane looks more and more like money down the drain with each passing match, money that could have been much better spent elsewhere. The man needs to seriously up his game.

So does Rafa when it comes to transfers to he fair.
If Keane falls on his arse, he would have pissed away a fair amount lately.
Not good.

[Dhav]

So does Rafa when it comes to transfers to he fair.
If Keane falls on his arse, he would have pissed away a fair amount lately.
Not good.

Agreed. I've got serious concerns now about Rafa's transfer dealings and policy after this past summer, including his desire to get rid of Alonso and replace him with Barry.

[dww]

Absolutely. I said at the time if we're going to go as high as £20m for Keane we might as well have put in another £7-10m in and bought a truly world class creative player.

The money spent on Keane looks more and more like money down the drain with each passing match, money that could have been much better spent elsewhere. The man needs to seriously up his game.

Do we know the details of the payments for Keane? If a reasonable portion is performance related then I really don't think that the fee should be in question at all. I'm also not sure how we magic up an extra £7-10m. We could have not bought a forward or bought a cheaper alternative but neither of those was really as good a gamble as going for Keane IMO.

I think your assessment of him is harsh if for no other reason than he has been key in games like the win against United. We haven't beaten them for years in the league and he was vital that day.

[Reece]

Agreed. I've got serious concerns now about Rafa's transfer dealings and policy after this past summer, including his desire to get rid of Alonso and replace him with Barry.

Every manager makes mistakes when it comes to transfers though, and I mean expensive ones as well: Veron, Shevchenko etc. I appreciate that those two teams can probably afford the mistakes more than we can but sometimes you have to take a risk, and it won't always pay off.
But still a bit early to write Keane off for me.

[Reece]

Oh, and Keane has scored more than Torres at Anfield this season

[Woobus]

Agreed. I've got serious concerns now about Rafa's transfer dealings and policy after this past summer, including his desire to get rid of Alonso and replace him with Barry.

The transfer policy that has bought us the players that has made us joint top?
Reina, Agger, Skrtel, Arbeloa, Aurelio, Riera, Kuyt, Mascherano, Alonso, Babel and Torres have all been great buys. Unless you are only concentrating on the summer buys who havent even had half a season to settle in.

[memzey]

So does Rafa when it comes to transfers to he fair.
If Keane falls on his arse, he would have pissed away a fair amount lately.
Not good.

Don't think this is fair.

Agreed. I've got serious concerns now about Rafa's transfer dealings and policy after this past summer, including his desire to get rid of Alonso and replace him with Barry.

Or this. Quite harsh in my opinion.

Every manager makes mistakes when it comes to transfers though, and I mean expensive ones as well: Veron, Shevchenko etc. I appreciate that those two teams can probably afford the mistakes more than we can but sometimes you have to take a risk, and it won't always pay off.
But still a bit early to write Keane off for me.

Agree with this general sentiment however it's plain to see that Keane is currently struggling. I'd drop him for a couple of games, play Kuyt up top with Torres and give El Zhar a run out on the right, as his contributions from the bench so far this season indicate he richly deserves the chance. I suspect Rafa will do no such thing and will in fact, keep faith with RK until he hits form, much the same way he did with Crouchie. Rafa knows what he is doing and has my unqualified support. Just because I'd do something a bit different does not mean I'd get it right!

[bobbyfallon]

Oh, and Keane has scored more than Torres at Anfield this season

been thinkin for a while that this torres fella isnt good enough for LFC

[Kenneth]

I'd drop him for a couple of games, play Kuyt up top with Torres and give El Zhar a run out on the right,

[Dhav]

Do we know the details of the payments for Keane? If a reasonable portion is performance related then I really don't think that the fee should be in question at all. I'm also not sure how we magic up an extra £7-10m. We could have not bought a forward or bought a cheaper alternative but neither of those was really as good a gamble as going for Keane IMO.

I think your assessment of him is harsh if for no other reason than he has been key in games like the win against United. We haven't beaten them for years in the league and he was vital that day.

No we don't know the details, but I do believe we have paid around double of what the player is worth, so unless we end up paying substantially less than the £20m I think we have grossly overspent. Now of course, if we end up winning the league or the CL with Keane in playing a valuable part in our team/squad, then he would be a very cheap purchase. However, IMO he was not what we needed and I don't think he advances our squad or team to any great degree and the good performances have been very few and far between so far. I admit he hasn't been helped by being played in alien positions however.

As for the extra £7m-£10m, I give you Dossena and Ngog.

Every manager makes mistakes when it comes to transfers though, and I mean expensive ones as well: Veron, Shevchenko etc. I appreciate that those two teams can probably afford the mistakes more than we can but sometimes you have to take a risk, and it won't always pay off.
But still a bit early to write Keane off for me.

I agree with everything you say, but as you acknowledge we can't afford to make expensive mistakes of the likes the Chavs have and Fergie has.

I have always been fiercely pro-Rafa and argued that he should be given more money to spend to enable us to compete with Chavs and Scum on a more equal footing. Everyone knows I was against him selling Alonso and replacing him with Barry, but I also said that the board should have let him do it if he wanted to because he's the manager and it is his choice, he should be allowed to mould his squad in any way he sees fit. But I am now having serious concerns about his transfer policy. We have spent an awful lot of money and some of his big signings are not performing. Some of them don't even seem to fit in to the way the team plays.

It is early to write Keane off completely, I agree with you. But my concerns are born from the fact that I felt he was not what we needed and that we'd have been better off spending the money on other areas of the team. Unfortuantely that concern has been heightened by his poor performances so far and the gluttony of easy chances he has miss. He can turn it around I have no doubts, but the guy will need to adapt and change his attitude. His decision making needs to improve about 4 fold. If he's willing and able to do that then he has a decent chance.

The transfer policy that has bought us the players that has made us joint top?
Reina, Agger, Skrtel, Arbeloa, Aurelio, Riera, Kuyt, Mascherano, Alonso, Babel and Torres have all been great buys. Unless you are only concentrating on the summer buys who havent even had half a season to settle in.

For everyone of those great buys I could name you two who have flopped. Look at some of the inept performances v Fulham and Spurs in the League CUp - are you telling me Rafa's scouting is all it should be? I thought the whole point of buying Prem proven players was so they wouldn't need time to settle-in, so that they could hit the ground running? If we want to win the league we can't afford to sit around and wait for the passangers in our team to settle in.