Keane signs for Liverpool

Republic of Ireland captain Robbie Keane has signed a four-year-deal with Liverpool after securing a move from Tottenham's White Hart Lane to Anfield.for an initial fee of €24million.

Keane is the fifth arrival at Anfield this summer and the second most expensive player in the club's history after fellow frontman Fernando Torres. However, his fee could rise by another €1.6million, according to Tottenham.

For the former Crumlin United player, the deal represents the opportunity to play in the Champions League. The move to Anfield is the sixth transfer of his career and will bring the combined fee for the former Wolves, Coventry, Inter Milan and Leeds player to approximately €72million.

The Tallaght man is now expected to make his way to Spain where he could feature for his new club in a friendly against Villareal on Wednesday evening.

"I would like to place on record my thanks to the board, players and fans of Tottenham for the past six years, which were the best and most enjoyable of my career to date," Keane said in a statement released this evening.

"I will never forget them. I would specifically like to thank chairman Daniel Levy for understanding, that, as a fan, joining Liverpool is a lifelong dream of mine and one I couldn't let pass me by.

"I hope one day the Spurs fans, who have been brilliant to me, can understand this too.

"I have only good things to say about my time at Tottenham and expect them to go from strength to strength under Juande Ramos and Daniel Levy."

Keane, who has netter a record 33 times for Ireland, scored 107 goals in 253 appearances for Spurs and formed a lethal partnership with Bulgarian international Dimitar Berbatov in recent seasons.

He became Benitez's number one summer target over recent weeks, with the need to replace Peter Crouch more important than pursuing the complicated, protracted, move for Aston Villa's Gareth Barry.

The deal has not been without its complications, however, with Spurs reporting Liverpool to the Premier League for the manner in which they approached Keane.

Confirming the transfer this evening Levy said that the complaint had now been dropped after Liverpool agreed to make a donation to the "Club's main charity, the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation."

Levy added: "I was incredibly disappointed when I first heard, not only that Liverpool had been working behind the scenes to bring Robbie to Anfield, but that Robbie himself wanted to go and he submitted a transfer request to this effect.

"I have already made my opinion clear on the nature of this transaction. I don't regard it as a transfer deal - that is something which happens between two clubs when they both agree to trade - this is very much an enforced sale, for which we have agreed a sum of €24m as compensation plus a potential further €1.6m in additional compensation."

Spurs assistant boss Gus Poyet added on  Setanta Sports 1: "It's difficult to take because Robbie was everything to Spurs and we thought he would be here for a long time. We hope to get a player to replace Robbie."

Valencia striker David Villa is believed to be Ramos' top target, but Real Madrid are favourites for the signature of the Spanish international.

Spurs may also target either Andriy Arhsavin or Roman Pavlyuchenko of Russia.  The latter is likely to be more affordable with Zenit St Petersburg demanding a fee similar to that of Keane's for Arshavin.

The arrival of Keane at Anfield and  the prospect of Xabi Alonso now staying at the club, means Liverpool may decline to respond to Villa boss Martin O'Neill's demand that they make their intentions regarding Barry clear, though Benitez would still like to bring the player to Anfield.

Steve Finnan, once touted as a makeweight in the Barry deal, is unlikely to leave now because new signing Philipp Degen is expected to need surgery on a groin injury which will rule him out of the start of the season.