Admittedly we’ve been down this road a few times before, but it’s being reported that Robbie Keane may well be returning to one of his actual boyhood clubs in the shape of Championship leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Having festooned their squad with expensive thralls of super agent Jorge Mendes, Wolves are currently cantering towards the Premier League, harbouring as they do a 13-point lead over second placed Derby County going into the second half of the season.
According to Tim Nash, Wolves correspondent for the Express & Star, the club are hoping to embellish their “promotion-chasing party” in January by adding a returning veteran to the pack – that man being none other than Robbie Keane.
BREAKING: @Wolves are hoping to add Robbie Keane to their promotion-chasing party. Keane, 37, is contracted to Indian Super League champions ATK until March. But it is understood he has been able to secure an early release to seal an emotional return to Molineux.
— Tim Nash (@TimNash_1) January 3, 2018
Keane scored 29 goals in 87 appearances for Wolves as a younger man having made the move from the Dublin youth leagues to Molineux as a teenager back in 1996.
Skip forward an eon and the 37-year-old currently finds himself contracted to Indian Super League side ATK (formerly Atletico de Kolkata) until March, although Nash reckons Wolves would be able to secure an early release on emotional grounds.
You might argue that bringing in an ageing legend for one last glorious tour of duty might deprive some of Wolves’ other, younger prospects of valuable game time, but the majority of the squad will all be replaced by yet more expensive Mendes fodder in six months’ time anyway, so it’s really rather moot.
It’d be quite nice to see Keane returning to his old stomping ground, and it’s nice to have nice things once in while.