Keane’s Tottenham future in doubt

TOTTENHAM boss Martin Jol is unsure whether Ireland’s Robbie Keane will be at White Hart Lane next season.

The 24-year-old Republic striker was fined for his furious reaction to being left on the substitutes’ bench in the draw at Birmingham, and while Jol insists he wants to keep him at the club, he is by no means certain that will be the case.

“He knows there are not a lot of gifted players I have seen like him in my life. He is a big part of our set-up.

“He was player of the year last year, but I have to make a choice between him and Jermaine Defoe. Jermain has scored a lot of goals as well. Robbie is doing that occasionally, and if he was not here, we would have had a problem, and would have five or six points less. Jermain has done the same though.

“They are all important for our squad and hopefully he will stay but you never know because if he is fed up or he is not happy. But we will see at the end of the season.”

Jol was unhappy with Keane’s outburst at St Andrew’s and has warned the player that he must remain patient and look at the bigger picture.

“There was not a difference of opinion,” he said. “If there is a difference of opinion, you can talk about it, you have a discussion, but there was no discussion here. I think he stepped out of line - he should not show his frustration. We have talked about it and there was no problem with him because he is a fine lad and he had a fresh start this week.”

That said, Jol fully expects Keane to haunt him as he attempts to fight his way back into the starting line-up. “He told me the other day ‘When I am not playing, I am going to be visiting you in your office every day’ and I said I am looking forward to it,” he said.

“But that is private, he can say whatever he likes between us, but not show the whole stadium.

“Even if he is keen to play, you cannot show your frustration. But I know he is a bit emotional sometimes. Sometimes it is not bad to have a bit of tension, but we have talked about it, we dealt with it and I have done what I had to do and he knows. I try to avoid that sort of thing because I think it will damage team spirit.”