Robbie Keane has become Liverpool’s second most expensive signing and their biggest of the summer, penning a four year deal for a fee that could rise to £20.3m.

Irishman Keane arrives from Tottenham with an impressive goalscoring record and a vast amount of Premier League experience. The 28 year old was a Liverpool fan as a boy and is close friends with Reds captain Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.

Keane is seen by Rafa Benitez as the perfect strike partner for record signing Fernando Torres, costing an initial £19m.

Tottenham have also announced they have dropped their complaint of Liverpool’s conduct in their pursuit of Robbie Keane, with Liverpool having apologised and offered a donation to Spurs’ charity. See: Spurs drop complaint against Reds / Levy: Not a transfer deal

Keane is seen by many as a replacement for the now departed Peter Crouch and becomes Benitez’s fifth major signing of the summer, joining Degen, Dossena, Cavalieri and Ngog as Rafa’s purchases thus far.

The Republic of Ireland captain and record goalscorer said “I would like to place on record my thanks to the board, players and fans of Tottenham for the past six years, which were the best and most enjoyable of my career to date.

“I will never forget them. I would specifically like to thank chairman Daniel Levy for understanding, that, as a fan, joining Liverpool is a lifelong dream of mine and one I couldn’t let pass me by.

“I hope one day the Spurs fans, who have been brilliant to me, can understand this too.

“I have only good things to say about my time at Tottenham and expect them to go from strength to strength under Juande Ramos and Daniel Levy.”

Keane scored 80 goals in 197 appearances in Tottenham and has scored 33 international goals in 81 appearances. He has reached double figures for Spurs in each of the last six seasons.

He is now one of the most expensive footballer’s in the world, having been involved in transfers totalling £58m having previously played for Wolves, Coventry, Inter Milan and Leeds before joining Tottenham in 2002.

Keane will unveiled to the media on Tuesday and could be part of the squad which travels to Spain for the friendly against Villareal on Wednesday. He is likely to take the vacant number 7 shirt but this is yet to be confirmed.

Discuss Keane’s arrival here