Career in Pictures: Tottenham Hotspur legend Robbie Keane

Following Tottenham Hotspur’s entertaining 3-2 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend, we thought now would be a good time to look back at a player who made an impression for both clubs.

Having started his football career at Molineux, Robbie Keane scored 29 times in 87 appearances for the West Midlands before moving to Coventry City, Inter Milan and Leeds United.

But it was with Spurs where the man, who at 38 was still recently getting minutes under his belt as the player-manager of Indian Premier League side ATK, had the biggest impact in his career.

Signing for the north London side in 2002, the striker scored 107 times in six seasons to become the club’s 15th scoring centurion.

This saw Robbie earn a dream move to his boyhood club Liverpool in July 2008, but things didn’t quite work out for him at Anfield and he returned to his spiritual White Hart Lane home six months later.

Back in the capital the man who’s the Republic of Ireland’s all-time record scorer with 68 strikes, went on to net a further 15 times in 52 appearances before departing for MLS side LA Galaxy in 2011.

To celebrate a true Premier League icon, SHOOT has put together five of Keane’s most defining moments of his Spurs career. Enjoy!

Hat-Trick Hero

Keane had settled well at Tottenham following his move from Leeds United and scored his first goal in his fifth match as Spurs won 2-1 at Blackburn.

But despite a spattering of impressive performances, it wasn’t until the first month of 2003 that the Irish star lit up White Hart Lane with a stunning hat-trick against Everton.

It was the first of three career Premier League trebles (vs Wolves, December 2003 and Burnley, September 2009) the number 10 celebrated with his trademark cartwheel and roll combo.

He ended his debut campaign as the north London side’s leading scorer and was voted Player of the Year.

The Perfect Partner

Teddy Sheringham and Jermain Defoe were just two of a host of top-class striking partners Keane had the privilege of linking up with at Spurs.

But in the summer of 2006, a man by the name of Dimitar Berbatov arrived to create one of the most lethal strike forces in the country.

In their two seasons together, the pair netted a combined 91 times in 199 matches with the Ireland captain edging out the mercurial Bulgarian 46-45.

To sum up the former Inter Milan attacker’s prolific form at that time, he scored 31 goals (a high of 19 in the Premier League) and grabbed 13 assists in 40 starts throughout the calendar year of 2007.

Club Century

If 2007 was his most prolific 12 months in front of goal, Keane started the new year where he had left off.

Just a month after becoming the 13th player to net 100 Premier League goals, the then 27-year-old became the 15th man to notch a century of strikes for Spurs.

This came in a 2-0 victory against Sunderland in January 2008 – a period which, as we’ll explain, became a highlight in his career at White Hart Lane.

Silverware

Goals had certainly not been hard to come by in north London for Robbie but major honours had been.

That was until 2008 when Juande Ramos’ side ended the club’s 17-year wait for a trophy with a 2-1 victory over Chelsea in the Wembley final.

However great that extra-time win was for the fans, the semi-final may have been on par with it as they defeated fierce rivals Arsenal 6-2 on aggregate following a thumping 5-1 win at the Lane in the second leg.

The Irish striker scored Spurs’ third goal of that landmark night and played 102 minutes of the showpiece match against the Blues under the famous arch.

The Return

After an unsuccessful six-month spell with Liverpool, Keane made a jubilant return to Tottenham in February 2009.

It was viewed as a homecoming by supporters who had voted the striker their Player of the Year on three occasions.

This image captures a highlight during his second spell – his first four-goal Premier League haul in a 5-0 victory against Burnley.

Upon his return, Robbie was appointed vice-captain and took the armband when Ledley King was sidelined.