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Celtic complete loan signing of Robbie Keane from Spurs

Robbie Keane was the shock move of the day when he joined Celtic on loan © Getty Images

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Tottenham captain Robbie Keane has joined Celtic on loan.

The Republic of Ireland striker informed Harry Redknapp the Hoops were the only club he wanted to join in the transfer window, and Tony Mowbray has now landed his top target. Keane will be presented to Celtic's fans at 11pm (GMT) on Monday night.

Keane only rejoined Spurs a year ago after a disappointing six-month stint at Liverpool. He was reportedly the architect of a Spurs Christmas party escapade to Dublin, which was conducted behind Redknapp's back. It is unclear whether that misdemeanour played any part in his moving on.

The 29-year-old has lost his starting place to Peter Crouch and has only featured as a substitute in recent games. Harry Redknapp said Keane was desperate to play first team football and the club he supported as a boy.

Redknapp said: "It's a good move. Robbie needs to play. He's too good a player not to be starting here regularly. He wants to play all the time. It's been difficult to guarantee Robbie a starting place at the moment. He's not a happy man when he's not playing regularly. But he loves his football; he's a great trainer, a great man about the place.

"To go to Celtic is a dream come true for him anyway. I think it's a move that appeals to him. He's a big Celtic man and he'd like to go up to Celtic and play like Roy Keane did. The Irish lads, it's in their blood and they dream of playing for Celtic one day. This opportunity is one they want to take and we don't want to stand in his way, because we're strong in that position.''

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell said: "We've been pretty persistent in the last few windows in terms of keeping in touch with what he was wanting to do. Thankfully, today, we were able to do a deal.

"We've known for a while that Robbie is a Celtic supporter and he's a great connection with the club and our supporters. Up until today, things were not looking very great at all. Things changed this afternoon and were able to put a deal in very quickly. His situation at Spurs was made, I think, pretty plain to him. He always knew we were very, very keen to get him.'

Lawwell said there was no specific option to make the move permanent but did not rule out doing just that in the summer. He added: "What we find is that players that come to Celtic very rarely want to leave.''

Lawwell refused to reveal how Keane's salary - reportedly in the region of £65,000 a week - would be paid and denied his signing was merely a ploy to appease disgruntled supporters. "We're in a transitional period at the moment,'' he said.

"Tony probably wasn't blessed with the strongest squad we've had here when he arrived. We were always looking to bring in quality, our supporters do deserve the best and that's what we do at Celtic.''

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