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Robbie Keane : Transfer Deal Details - Warning Longish Post

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  • 02-03-2009 11:30am
    #1
    MementoMori
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,492 ✭✭✭


    I was wondering if anyone had heard any behind-the-scenes, ITK or general chitchat on the ins and outs of the Robbie Keane transfer deal in terms of what was actually agreed, especially in terms of the move back to Spurs

    The BBC initialy reported the deal to Liverpool was done at £19m with £1.3m in add-ons.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/7528735.stm

    Normally in a transfer deal like this it would be a case of half the cash up front and half in a year's time. So I would assume £9.5m was paid in cash in August 2008 and £9.5m plus whatever in the way of add-ons had accrued up until then. [As things worked out I can't see that much in the way of add-ons would be due considering how things went - just maybe possibly appearances but rather unlikely]

    So the situation when Liverpool and Spurs came to discuss his moving back to WHL was that Liverpool would already have paid £9.5m in cash and owed another £9.5m in August 2009.

    However this is where things seem to get complicated

    The BBC reported the deal as being done at £12m plus add-ons, whereas the Times said £16m. The Guardian reported a basic fee of £12m with another
    £4m in add-ons which were not related to silverware and would be pretty likely to be reached plus another £3m in silverware related add-ons.
    Keane, who departed White Hart Lane for an initial £19m with a further £1.3m of potential add-ons, is understood to have cost Tottenham an initial £12m. That fee will rise quickly to nearer £16m with further ambitious add-ons, linked to silverware he claims at Spurs, to see up to £19m change hands again.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/t/tottenham_hotspur/7861523.stm

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article5645880.ece

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/feb/02/robbie-keane-return-spurs-tottenham-hostpur-liverpool

    The Gauardian report would seem to imply that its £12m basic with a potential of up to £7m in add-ons; of which it sounds like £4m that are not related to winning silverware while the remaining £3m of it sounds silverware related.

    The Times report also says that the fee could eventually reach close to
    £20m, but once again states this would only be if Spurs win trophies
    Liverpool were offered Gareth Bale and David Bentley, the left back and midfield player respectively, in part exchange, but the Merseyside club favoured a straight cash deal. The fee could eventually reach close to £20 million, but that figure is dependent on Tottenham winning trophies, meaning that Liverpool are expected to take a hit of at least £4 million on the Ireland forward.

    Thinking about the £4m (non-silverware add-ons) you would assume a large chunk of it is based on appearances (Spurs must have been slightly suspicious that LFC might have discovered a potential medical problem so it would be a fair bit of sense to cover themselves that way especially given the fact that the deal was done so close to the deadline and it might not have been possible to do extensive medical tests)

    I would assume that there is the possibility that some of the £4m add-ons would be based on goals scored. However I can't imagine this being a large part of the fee, especially considering that this is a pretty risky thing to be a part of a contract. LFC wouldn't really want it in there because they would be the ones having doubts over his goal-scoring ability while Spurs would probably not be in favour of a contract tat would reward Liverpool when Keane scored for Spurs. Overall I'd be very surprised if this was anyway as large as £500k. At a guess I'd say it could be a case of £250k after Robbie scores 10 goals, and another £250k after another 10. I would imagine that ti would be the case that this would most likely run over the course of the length of Keane's contract to Spurs. This would seem to make sense as it's part of the non-silverware £4m which from the Guardian article is pretty likely to get paid. I just can't see a situation where Keane doens't manage to hit his target, unless he develops a serious medical problem - so it covers Spurs in terms of that possibility as well.

    Also from the Guardian story it says that the fee will quickly rise to £4m. The only other non-silverware thing I can think of that could quickly happen is Spurs not getting relegated. Given Spurs league position at the time surely it would have made sense for them to include this in the contract. Everyone knows that there is a massive finanancial hit when teams get relegated (even with parachute payments) Surely it would be prudent planning on the Spurs side to put in a clause based on this? Keane was bought in large part to help make sure they avoided relegation and from the WHL viewpoint you could see it as being a case of if he helped them achieve this, wasn't £1m a small fee to pay based on the fact that they were already getting a good deal i.e. agreeing to pay a basic £12m for a player they sold for £19m a few month's previous.

    Anyway long story short I'd guess that the non-silverware £4m could be broken down as

    £2.5m Based on appearances
    £1m Spurs avoiding relegation
    £.5m Goals scored

    The other £3m is probably slightly more difficult to breakdown. Is it all actual silverware or is it more success/achievement based?

    Given that according to the Guardian report could take the deal to a total of £19m you would expect that it would be pretty much strongly weighted in Spurs favour i.e from the Spurs point of view they would have been expecting to avoid relegation this season and strongly contesting for Europe next season. On that basis you can hardly see them agreeing a deal where they reward LFC if they end up with say a UEFA Cup next season or the season after. I think this part of the deal would be much more likely to be weighed largely in favour of payments Spurs. It's also tough to imagine just how this would break down but I'll have a pop at it just to give an idea of how this could be structured.

    CL Win £375,000
    PL Win £312,500
    FA Cup Win £62,500

    Obviously this would be over the four yeards of Keane's contract i.e a maximum of £750k per season over four seasons. The full £3m would only be due if all three were won every season.

    Clearly this is just wild speculation but the general point is that unless Spurs win some serious silverware LFC are extremely unlikely to get any of this silverware add-ons.

    Ok so this post started off as just a simple enquiry but it blew out of control a bit. However my main question it does the Guardian reported deal of £12m plus £7m in add-ons sound feasible to Spurs fans. For me it seems to make sense in that you get Keane back for £12m. If he does absolutely nothing whatsoever you've made a profit of £7m. If he performs at or around the same level like he performed previously for Spurs the price rises to £16m, still a profit of £3m. If Spurs really get in a grove and win absolutely all possible silverware in the next few seasons which he would be a major part of you have him back and end up even. You would only end up even on the deal if you went on an insane silverware collection run, otherwis you would come out ahead.

    Does this sound feasible? Does anyone have any evidence/backup/rumours that support this? How would you feel if this was the deal?

    Personally it sounds feasible and sounds like a pretty good deal for Spurs to me.


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  • Options
    #2
    therecklessone
    Registered Users Posts: 17,213 ✭✭✭✭therecklessone


    MementoMori wrote: »

    Ok so this post started off as just a simple enquiry but it blew out of control a bit. However my main question it does the Guardian reported deal of £12m plus £7m in add-ons sound feasible to Spurs fans. For me it seems to make sense in that you get Keane back for £12m. If he does absolutely nothing whatsoever you've made a profit of £7m. If he performs at or around the same level like he performed previously for Spurs the price rises to £16m, still a profit of £3m. If Spurs really get in a grove and win absolutely all possible silverware in the next few seasons which he would be a major part of you have him back and end up even. You would only end up even on the deal if you went on an insane silverware collection run, otherwis you would come out ahead.

    Does this sound feasible? Does anyone have any evidence/backup/rumours that support this? How would you feel if this was the deal?

    Personally it sounds feasible and sounds like a pretty good deal for Spurs to me.

    Man, that post was long...:P

    Here's what I believe based on media reports (and rumours I might have heard)

    The fee for Keane moving to Liverpool was £19m plus £1.3m in add-ons, the majority of that for winning the PL and/or CL

    The fee for his return to Spurs was £12m plus £3-4m in add-ons, the majority of that for avoiding relegation.

    It doesn't matter how much has changed hands already, a lot of transfers happen "on paper" rather than actual transfers of large amounts of cash.

    I believe we will have made between £3m and £4m net after the two transfers, as I expect us to stay up.


  • Options
    #3
    MementoMori
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,492 ✭✭✭MementoMori


    therecklessone wrote: »
    Man, that post was long...:P.

    Yeah it really did get away from me :p
    therecklessone wrote: »
    The fee for Keane moving to Liverpool was £19m plus £1.3m in add-ons, the majority of that for winning the PL and/or CL

    Cheers for the info on the add-ons ; there's still the possibility of Spurs getting this £1.3m so :D
    therecklessone wrote: »
    The fee for his return to Spurs was £12m plus £3-4m in add-ons, the majority of that for avoiding relegation.

    Hurrah Spurs for 17th place so :p Just joking - hell of a lot of other teams I'd prefer to see relegated below Spurs and that are much more likely to be relegated too. I am hoping that 'Arry will be able to put out a somewhat disinterested team with nothing at stake on the last day of the season, thus allowing LFC to snatch the title from under Man Utd's nose. Maybe a possibility of three Robbie Keane own goals might help with the old goal difference too :p
    therecklessone wrote: »
    It doesn't matter how much has changed hands already, a lot of transfers happen "on paper" rather than actual transfers of large amounts of cash.

    Yeah as I said the OP did get a bit away from me.
    therecklessone wrote: »
    I believe we will have made between £3m and £4m net after the two transfers, as I expect us to stay up.

    Pretty much what I thought - depending on how the PL and CL turns out ;)

    Much appreciated


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