The rumours have swirled furiously all over the Internet over the past few days, but it seems to be a done deal now. Several reports have Robbie Keane joining the LA Galaxy from Tottenham Hotspur on a 2.5 year contract.
Keane will take Juan Pablo Angel's place as LA's DP striker. Angel has been incredibly ineffective for the past year after tearing up the league from his debut in 2007 through the first half of 2010. The Colombian is said to be considering two options for his immediate future: joining the Philadelphia Union (and old friend Faryd Mondragon), or retirement.
To land Keane, Los Angeles had to open up their wallets. The Galaxy are reportedly set to pay the Irish star $4.5 million for each of 2012 and 2013, with a pro-rated amount for the duration of this year. Those salary figures would make Keane the fourth highest-paid player in MLS*, behind new teammate David Beckham ($6.5 million) and New York duo Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez ($5.5 million each).
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To put things more into perspective, LA are paying their three designated players over $13 million combined. Clearly, they are making a push to win a championship this year with Beckham in the final year of his landmark deal.
* Numbers for recent DP signings Torsten Frings, Danny Koevermans, Frank Rost, Freddy Adu and others are still not yet available to the public, although none are reported to be as big as the Keane deal.