Spurs may have found their new Keane in 17-year-old goalscoring phenomenon

When you think of the great Tottenham Hotspur strikers of the 21st century, most people will understandably gravitate towards Harry Kane.

After all, the England captain is the club’s all-time top goalscorer and has a genuine claim to being one of the very best centre-forwards the Premier League has ever seen.

However, before the Englishman was scoring goals for fun, the Lilywhites had a number of other brilliant and sometimes underrated marksmen leading the line.

The likes of Jermaine Defoe and Peter Crouch, for example, but there is another superstar striker who perhaps doesn’t get the credit he deserves from some: Robbie Keane.

Robbie Keane’s Spurs career in numbers

Tottenham completed the £7m signing of Keane in the summer of 2002, following an impressive season with Leeds United in which he scored nine goals and provided one assist in just 33 appearances.

Despite being just 22 at the start of his first campaign with the Lilywhites, the Dublin-born poacher hit the ground running, and in just 32 appearances, he scored 13 goals and provided three assists, coming out to an average of a goal involvement every other game.

Over the course of the next few seasons, the Irish marksman had to battle it out with several other talented forwards, like Defoe, for a place in the starting lineup, but eventually succeeded and cemented himself as the club’s starting number nine.

In all, the 5 foot 9 dynamo made 306 appearances for the North Londoners across two spells, in which he scored 122 goals, provided 39 assists and won the League Cup in 2008.

After two short-term loan spells with Celtic and West Ham United in 2010 and 2011, the experienced international would eventually leave Spurs for good and join MLS side LA Galaxy, where he’d become something of a legend.

Interestingly, it looks as if the club have now got their hands on an exciting youngster who could be the next Keane.

Spurs’ next Robbie Keane

Spurs are blessed with an abundance of incredible talent in and around their academy at the moment, with the likes of Mikey Moor and Luca Barnett-Williams the leading names.

However, the youngster in question is not a part of Hotspur Way and isn’t even in the country.

Mason Melia has been making a name for himself over in Ireland for St Patrick’s Athletic and last month became the record sale from the League of Ireland when Tottenham decided to spend an initial £1.6m on securing his services, which could rise to £3.2m.

Now, that is an enormous amount of money to spend on anyone from Irish football, let alone a 17-year-old, but there is plenty of excitement and expectation that the talented forward could be one of Ireland and Europe’s leading attackers in a few years from now.

For example, despite being so young, the “relentless” gem, as dubbed by analyst Ben Mattinson, has already played 57 games of senior football, scoring ten goals and providing three assists.

On top of the obvious comparisons to Keane, regarding his position and nationality, respected talent scout Jacek Kulig was also quick to compare the teenager to another Spurs icon, labelling him the “Irish Harry Kane” only last year.

Ultimately, while the comparisons to some of the game’s very best strikers aren’t particularly helpful for a youngster trying to make his way in the game, they indicate just how highly thought of the North Londoners’ new prospect really is.

Moreover, if he can get anywhere close to the level of output Keane produced when he joins the team next year, Ange Postecoglou will have an exceptional outlet on his hands.

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