Numbers game puts Keane into dream role

After the acrimonious parting, a sense yesterday of what Daniel Levy, the Tottenham Hotspur chairman, was up against when Liverpool came for calling for Robbie Keane. When the package, for a lifelong Liverpool fan like Keane, includes the same red jersey worn by Keegan, Dalglish and Beardsley, there is nothing any proprietor can do.

The Irishman, who was unveiled by Liverpool yesterday, never counted a Liverpool No 7 among his Anfield heroes – John Barnes, Ian Rush, John Aldridge were the legends for him and Barnes was the reason why he has worn No 10 for most of his career – but for all Levy's protestations about the way Rafael Benitez enticed his captain, it was obvious that the prospect of pulling on a shirt most Dublin schoolboys dream of wearing was temptation enough.

"I think that if I didn't come to Liverpool, I'd probably have regretted it for the rest of my life," said the 28-year-old, whose biography reveals him to be "not just a fan but a fanatic" of Liverpool. His hopes of joining the club he passed over for Wolves 14 years ago were awakened when he heard rumours of Gerard Houllier's interest in him, but that talk came to nothing.

Now comes the difficult part. Fitting into a system in which either he or Steven Gerrard will seemingly have to yield up their preferred offensive central role. Benitez, whose capacity for delivering square pegs into round holes knew no bounds at times last season, said he has not decided how to deploy the two of them, despite the £19m outlay – rising to a possible £20.3m with add-ons – for Keane.

"My idea is to see the player training, see him with his team-mates and then decide," Benitez said. "We have two options, 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 to use him and Torres." 4-4-2 would see Gerrard shifted out right; 4-2-3-1 would have Keane and Dirk Kuyt or Ryan Babel as the wide men, with Gerrard through the middle.

Keane says he is relaxed about all prospects. "I'm a striker and he sees my playing up there," he said. "We haven't spoken specifically about what he wants me to do but I have to earn that right." But his ideal image of how things might be came in a comparison he drew between his partnership with Dimitar Berbatov at Tottenham and the one awaiting him with Torres. "It's kind of like the way it worked with Berbatov and myself with a big lad and a smaller lad alongside him. Fernando is really good in the air and I try to come off and drop into the hole so we'll complement each other." For sure, Keane would prefer 4-4-2.

Benitez, who has tended to opt for youth in the transfer market with players like Torres, Babel and Javier Mascherano, has accepted that he also needs the experience which can deliver immediate results. "When you know you are very close, sometimes you need a little more quality, more experience," he explained. That, he believes, can provide the consistency which will sneak more wins out of the drawn games – 13 last season – which debilitated Liverpool's progress.

Beating another 'big four' side in the league – a feat never accomplished last season – would help even more but Keane, expected to make his debut against Lazio at Anfield on Friday week, does not lack confidence in his ability to deliver.

Benitez has not given up securing Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, but that prospect is reducing since he needs to sell Jermaine Pennant and the unsettled Alvaro Arbeloa to raise funds, and with Xabi Alonso staying, he faces an abundance of central midfielders if Barry does arrive.

If the shirt fits: Great Liverpool No 7s

IAN CALLAGHAN 1960-1978

857 appearances, 68 goals. Won five League titles, two FA Cups, two European Cups and two Uefa Cups.

KEVIN KEEGAN 1972-1977

323 appearances, 100 goals. Won three League titles, one FA Cup, one European Cup, two Uefa Cups.

KENNY DALGLISH 1977-1990

515 appearances, 172 goals As player and manager, won eight League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, three European Cups.

PETER BEARDSLEY 1987-1991

175 appearances, 59 goals. Won two League titles, one FA Cup.

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