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Robbie Keane: Celtic move got me out a rut

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Robbie Keane has revealed that his loan spell with Celtic helped lift him out of an 18 month rut.

The strikers future is unclear but with a three year contract remaining at Tottenham he won’t be reporting to Lennoxtown for pre-season training.

Almost two years ago Keane signed for Liverpool in a shock £18m transfer deal but never seemed at home on Merseyside with the grapevine rife that the deal had been instigated from the Anfield boardroom rather than Rafa Benitez’s bootroom.

Halfway through the season Keane returned to Tottenham but as many players have found out in the past it’s never quite the same second time around although Bertie Auld could put up a decent counter argument.

Despite being installed as Spurs captain Keane never quite recaptured the form that he had shown alongside Dimitar Berbatov and jumped at the chance to move to Celtic during the January transfer window even though Celtic were embroiled in turmoil of their own.

“I was in a bit of a rut at Liverpool, and then going back to Tottenham,” the Irish skipper admitted. “I did well at first, but I didn’t have that hunger.

“Maybe I needed to go away to get that back. It’s got nothing to do with Paris (Ireland’s World Cup defeat from France), maybe just a lack of confidence, going from Liverpool and back to Tottenham.

“As a player you sometimes lose confidence, and I lost confidence as a player, so I hope going to Celtic is the best thing that has happened to me.

“Harry told me to enjoy my time at Celtic. He knows what I’m like, knows my personality and he fully respects that.”

With Celtic’s season going into free-fall Keane was constantly asked if he regretted the move to Celtic.

A trophy or two would have been welcome but regular first team football and guaranteed chances in front of goal soon lifted his spirits.

He added: “I love playing football. I’m not one of those people who likes sitting on the bench, picking up their money and I’m happy with that. I know plenty of people like that in football and I never understood it.

“When you’re a kid growing up, you don’t dream of playing bits and bobs of games. You don’t want to train all week and then not play on a Saturday, the games are where you get real sharpness and fitness.”

Keane is back in action tonight with Ireland facing World Cup finalists Paraguay at the Royal Dublin Showgrounds.

Darren O’Dea and Cillian Sheridan are included in the squad with the striker hoping to earn his first full cap.

Manager Giovanni Trapattoni has the job of lifting his players after the dejection of their controversial World Cup defeat from France and preparing his squad for the Euro 2012 qualifiers next season.

Assessing the attitude of his squad the veteran Italian said: “They could see immediately that they are not on holiday. I have said for the last two years, when you wear this shirt, there is no such thing as a friendly game because it’s our pride and the mentality of our country that is important.

“We have to build our mentality. I am not arrogant, but we are sure we have a strong team. Today I spoke with Marco (Tardelli, assistant manager) and we were saying this group is a great group — they showed us that against Brazil, against Italy and against France.

“They played better than or at the same level as those teams. I know the group will be difficult and we will need all of our players to be fit, but I have seen many games and I think we can qualify because this squad is strong.”

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