Would a £6m price tag make Robbie Keane affordable?

When Celtic report back for pre-season training on Thursday Robbie Keane will be absent.

The future of the Ireland captain is anyone’s guess with the majority of clubs in the Premiership likely to be linked to the striker.

Amongst them, predictably, will be Aston Villa and Birmigham City. Two clubs that rarely win anything.

From the second city the Birmingham Mail claim that the asking price for Keane has been dropped from £8m down to £6m- a fee that Celtic have paid out in the past for Chris Sutton, Neil Lennon, John Hartson and a decade ago for Eyal Berkovic.

The reported drop in price for Keane is largely due to the fact that there is unlikely to be much, if any, in the way of sell-on value for the player who turns 30 next week.

Spurs qualification for the Champions League makes a return to Tottenham less likely for Keane.

Harry Redknapp is looking towards a different level of player and has been strongly linked to Craig Bellamy and Diego Forlan to compliment his existing strike force.

Last month Keane revealed: “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.”

As he turns 30 Keane can look back on a career littered with high profile transfers as one of the Premiership’s leading all-time scorers but a lack of silverware to show for his efforts.

The English clubs that will be considering a move for him are less likely to win trophies that Spurs, only Celtic can offer him a realistic chance of winning trophies with guaranteed first team football.

Added to Keane’s transfer fee is a substantial weekly wage which can only be guessed at, much like the dealings between Spurs and Liverpool during the 2008/2009 season when Keane was sold twice between the two clubs.

In the current climate it’s unlikely that Celtic would be in a position to pay £6m for one player, and associated wages.

Against that however the club and supporters are crying out for a boost, a player to identify with and send out more than just a signal that next season’s challenge for the SPL title is for real.

Signing Keane would be the biggest single boost for season-ticket sales imaginable.

Bringing the striker to Celtic would surely make the decision over moving to the SPL much easier for others such as Liam Lawrence and Joe Ledley.

With Keane in the huddle, possibly as captain, any prospective signing is unlikely to have too many doubts about leaving England behind.

On the pitch Celtic needs leaders and a goal scorer- Keane ticks both boxes.

In his limited appearances last season Morten Rasmusssen showed promise- nothing more. Neither Georgios Samaras or Marco Fortune are going to replace the 20 plus goals that Scott McDonald could guarantee.

Until his future is decided there is bound to be speculation over Keane returning to Celtic- a £6m transfer fee might just be within Celtic’s range with the club well aware that supporters need to be convinced of the club’s ambitions.

In his final interview with Channel 67 Keane said tantalisingly: “I think that I’ve proved myself, I’ve scored a lot of goals and hopefully that’ll be enough for the supporters. Who knows I could be back one day.”

Who knows, maybe the  scenes that greeted Keane’s arrival in February will be repeated- hopefully without the Rugby Park reality check.