Major League Soccer defenders pay heed, your worse nightmare isn't going anywhere – for a couple seasons, at least.
On Wednesday, the LA Galaxy announced that the club had agreed to a multi-year contract extension with forward Robbie Keane, holding onto their 16-goal scorer and 2012 team MVP for years to come.
Keane scored six postseason goals to lead the Galaxy to their second straight MLS Cup championship. Per club and league policy, details of the contract were not released.
“I'm really enjoying me time here, and as long as I keep enjoying meself and as long as I let me football do the talking," he said following LA's MLS Cup victory. "I'll be very happy to stay here. I look forward to a number of years here.”
READ: Galaxy complete full transfer of Juninho from São Paulo
The Irish international joined LA in August 2011 and immediately made his presence felt for head coach Bruce Arena, scoring 18 goals and adding 10 assists in 32 regular-season games to go along with seven goals and two assists in 10 playoff matches. That production earned Keane MLS Best XI honors in 2012, much of it coming after he returned from the European Championship in late June.
After rejoining the Galaxy following Ireland's elimination in the group stages, Keane logged a goal or an assist in 15 of 19 games and ended the season with six multi-goal games in league play. He also scored in LA's final four games, all in the playoffs, including the a stoppage-time penalty kick to seal a 3-1 Galaxy victory.
There were rumors that the former English Premier League star would attempt to find a loan destination this offseason – he spent early 2011 on loan at Aston Villa – but those petered out in early January after Keane said his body needed time to recover after a busy year.
