Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov: Who's Been Better Value for Money So Far?

Who Was Better Value? 

From the above stats, we can determine that Keane has cost Liverpool £18,981 per minute on the pitch compared to Berbatov, who has cost £29,854 per minute.

Keane's goals have come at an average of one every 199 minutes and 15 seconds, costing £3,781,964 per goal. With Dimitar's at a rate of 206 minutes per goal, each costing £6,149,924.

Much was made of Keane's age when Liverpool announced his signing, with many fans and pundits feeling that £19 million was too much for a 28-year-old. Berbatov though, is only just over six months younger, and cost approximately 50 percent more than the Irishman. 

Though the Bulgarian has scored more than his former teammate, Keane's goal-per-minute ratio is better than that of his counterpart by seven minutes. Keane has also played as predominantly a lone striker, though Kuyt has partnered him on occasion. This is a role that many feel Keane does not excel at, preferring to see him play off another striker, as he did with Berbatov at White Hart Lane. 

Of course, the above stats aren’t conclusive, and they don’t take all factors into consideration. At a quick glance, one would assume that Berbatov had made a more impressive start to his Old Trafford career than Keane has with his Anfield one. As a Liverpool supporter, I am obviously going to favour Keane in this article.

But I honestly think that Keane has been more beneficial to the Liverpool side than Berbatov has to Manchester United. For starters, we're equal top, six points clear of third place, whilst Manchester United are currently sat in fourth, eight points behind with a game in hand.

There has also been less disruption to the team makeup, though Liverpool has been assisted in this regard by the injury of Torres. We don't have a £30 million striker warming our bench, and though I don't doubt Rafa would love someone of Tevez's class to bring off the bench, he also doesn’t have to worry about him leaving in January.

With Keane, according to Rafa, having got the monkey off his back, and also being able to reunite with strike partner Torres, the coming weeks will hopefully see a run of Keane goals. While no one has doubted his work rate or commitment to the Liverpool cause, there has been a lack of cartwheels at Anfield, and I, along with many Liverpool supporters, will be hoping to see more.

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