Celtic have confirmed the signing of Tottenham striker Robbie Keane on loan until the end of the season.
The Republic of Ireland international travelled to Glasgow on Monday evening, to be greeted by thousands of fans outside Celtic Park.
Keane was delighted to make the move to the club he supported.
“The club is massive,” he said. “I am a Celtic fan and did not have to ask much about it. I always wanted to play for Celtic and it works for all parties.”
Celtic had already added Diomansy Kamara from Fulham on loan and Morten Rasmussen from Brondby during January to bolster their strike force.
And the Keane deal followed Australia international Scott McDonald’s £3.5m transfer to Middlesbrough, which was completed just before the window closed.
Keane has made 25 appearances for Spurs this season but has recently been confined to the substitutes’ bench.
“I did not want to come here when I was 34 and struggling,” he said. “I still feel I am in my prime and hope I can help the club.”
Spurs manager Harry Redknapp sanctioned the move.
“He is a Celtic man so it’s a dream come true for him,” said Redknapp.
“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.
“Crouch has been in good form with Defoe and I have Roman Pavlyuchenko and brought in Eidur Gudjohnsen.”
Keane signed for Spurs in 2002, making almost 200 appearances and scoring 80 goals, before joining Liverpool for around £20m in July 2008.
However, after disappointing spell at Anfield he rejoined Spurs in February 2009 for £12m.
His previous clubs include Wolves, Coventry, Inter and Leeds.
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.
“What we find is that players that come to Celtic very rarely want to leave,” he said.
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.”
