Sir Alex Ferguson has kicked off the mind games ahead of this weekend's North West derby, labelling Liverpool's £20million capture of Robbie Keane a "big surprise"...
Keane moved to Anfield from Tottenham Hotspur in July for what would have been a Reds record fee had they not paid £21million for a certain Spaniard the previous year.
It was the first big-money deal of what was initially a slow summer on the transfer front, and the Irish striker was heralded as the final piece of Rafael Benitez's jigsaw puzzle.
The likes of Ian Rush, Liverpool's all-time leading goalscorer, declared that Keane's experience and nous would transform the Merseysiders into a team capable of winning the Premier League, let alone challenging for it.
The 28-year-old has endured a relatively slow start to his Reds career, however, failing to find the net at all to date.
And Ferguson has rubbed salt into the wound by hinting that the ex-Internazionale hitman was a curious signing.
He said in The Sun: “The big surprise was Liverpool paying £20million for Keane.”
The United boss's statement may seem utterly innocuous on the surface, but developments later in the summer give his a words a plethora of potential connotations.
For Keane's Mersey move was comfortably eclipsed in both financial and shock value, with Manchester City landing Robinho for £32million and Dimitar Berbatov arriving at Old Trafford for just under £31million.
Ferguson's insistence that Keane was a more surprising signing than Robinho would seem to suggest that he questions the price-tag or believes Benitez ought to have spent his cash on other areas of the pitch.
Indeed, press and public alike have begun asking similar questions of the Spanish tactician's summer spending. Liverpool's dearth of wide options was exposed against Aston Villa recently when Keane was forced to play on the left wing, while even in his regular position the former Leeds star causes problems.
One of the highlights of the Reds' 2007-08 campaign was the attacking partnership that formed between Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard. The pair netted 51 goals between them and racked up numerous direct assists to become one of the most exciting tag-teams in Europe.
However, Keane playing his normal second-striker role could disrupt the rapport Gerrard and Torres have developed; and while Keane and Torres have shown glimpses of their potential together, it is yet to produce anything like what the skipper and El Nino did last season.
That is one interpretation of Ferguson's words, in any case. Whether Benitez and Keane reach the same conclusion remains to be seen, but they may prefer to do their talking during Saturday's clash at Anfield.
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