Robbie Keane opens up on offers from English clubs
Robbie Keane is set to make a decision on his next move in the coming weeks, with some Championship clubs among those to have made offers for Ireland's record goalscorer, .
While the ex-LA Galaxy frontman wouldn’t name the clubs that have been in touch, he said that his former clubs Leeds and Wolves weren’t among them.
Keane has been strongly linked with Preston North End in recent days, where he could join the six Irish players currently playing at Deepdale, including recently signed Dundalk duo Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle.
“I’m back home for the Christmas period and training quite hard at the moment, so keep this space for the next couple of weeks and we’ll see what happens,” Keane told talkSPORT.
“I’ve been fortunate enough that I’ve got a few offers in England and abroad as well. I had to knock back a couple that were maybe a bit too far away.
“I’ve been getting a lot of people asking me about coming back to Leeds or Wolves, and they’re great clubs I’ve played for, but you can’t go somewhere that people actually don’t offer you anything.
“Until it’s actually in writing to me I can’t comment too much on it, but I definitely haven’t heard from Leeds or Wolves.
“There’s been a few offers from other Championship teams, but I don’t want to mention it too much because it wouldn’t be fair.”
Keane said that he’ll play for the next 18 months and see whether to go into coaching at that stage, as he has secured his UEFA ‘A’ Licence.
He added that he hasn’t heard from any Chinese Super League clubs, and joked: “If they gave me the money Diego Costa was offered, I’d walk there now!”
On the future of the MLS, Keane expressed his concern that the league needs to attract more top stars to keep growing attendances.
“I had an unbelievable time there… but they just have to be careful now because some of the big players have left, and at the end of the day people want to watch names. That’s the just the reality.
“Myself, Gerrard, Lampard and a few of the other big players are just starting to drift out, and now they’re going down the route where they want younger players who are not really well known.
“That is a good thing, I think, but people do want to watch big names.
“They have to be careful… they’ve set a high standard that they have to keep going and I’m not sure if they go down this route they’ll be able to do that.
“So I’m a little bit worried about that.”
