Keane's return could have been foreseen

There have been credible suggestions that Keane, through no fault of his own, had been at the centre of recent tensions between Liverpool's manager, Rafael Benítez, and the chief executive, Rick Parry. Benítez said last week that he "did not sanction" paying £20m to Tottenham Hotspur for Keane last summer.

So far only about £10m has changed hands between Liverpool and Spurs. There are strong rumours in the financial world that only £5m came from Liverpool's reserves. The rest, it is said, was borrowed money, coming from a specialist football-loans company.

That would mean that not only would Liverpool have to take the £10m balance of payments out of Benítez's future budget, but they would also have to furnish the debt service on the loans.