Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Liverpool's Keane Bid Encounters Difficulties

Liverpool must overcome a series of obstacles to entice Robbie Keane to Anfield, with Tottenham's valuation of the Republic of Ireland captain and Rafael Benitez's limited transfer budget hindering attempts to unite the striker with Fernando Torres.

Keane has asked to be kept informed of Liverpool's interest after being the subject of a cash-plus-Peter Crouch enquiry last week, but is unlikely to jeopardise his relationship with Tottenham by submitting a transfer request. That could change if Liverpool lodged a formal bid for the 27-year-old, a boyhood fan who shares an agent with Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, but Spurs' £20m valuation would still be prohibitive to the Anfield club.

Liverpool are expected to make a fourth offer of around £15m to Aston Villa for Gareth Barry in the next 48 hours and, with the £8m transfer of Andrea Dossena merely awaiting the Italian left-back's signature, Benitez will then have to sell before making any purchases in the Keane price-bracket. Consequently Liverpool, who sold John Arne Riise to Roma for £4m and hope to raise another £1m by off-loading reserve keeper Charles Itandje to Galatasaray, would prefer to include Crouch in a deal for the Spurs striker. However, with the England international considering several options and Xabi Alonso yet to complete a move to Juventus, Benitez will have to bide his time before formalising his interest in Keane.

Tottenham will not be deflected in their interest in the Sevilla winger Diego Capel despite the Spanish club rejecting their opening £12.5m bid for the midfielder. Juande Ramos hopes to add pace and invention down the flanks with the capture of Blackburn Rovers' David Bentley and Capel but, as yet, has seen offers for both players knocked back.

Sevilla were quick to reject the approach from their former manager for the 20-year-old, despite Spurs offering more money than the buy-out clause in the Spaniard's contract. "That clause is only valid when a Spanish team makes a bid," confirmed the Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido. "We do not negotiate with any figure less than that amount. Tottenham made a superior bid and we rejected that because it was not close to the amount we believe the player is worth abroad where, we believe, the buy-out clause does not apply."

Ramos worked with Capel at Sevilla, where the winger made his debut as a 16-year-old before establishing himself as their first-choice left winger last term. An improved offer is likely to be made, as it will be for Bentley after Blackburn rejected an initial bid of around £7m and the England winger Aaron Lennon as a makeweight in the deal.

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