Jermaine Jenas On Why Robbie Keane Was His Favourite Striker To Play Alongside

Jermaine Jenas played with some of the game’s most elite strikers during his career which spanned clubs like Newcastle, Tottenham and Nottingham Forest as well as 21 caps for England.

Jenas, whose career was cut short due to injury in 2014, shared the field with a selection of the game’s finest frontmen; Alan Shearer, Dimitar Berbatov, Patrick Kluivert, Jermaine Defoe, to name but a few.

The striker though, that Jenas enjoyed playing alongside the most, he explains, was the man he spent six seasons with at Tottenham – Robbie Keane.

Speaking to Pundit Arena, Jenas outlined that Keane’s selflessness on the pitch and his leadership qualities throughout his time at Spurs made the Irish striker one of his favourite teammates.

“Keano, I swear to you he’s right up there,” said Jenas.

“He really is. For me personally it’s who I enjoy playing with the most. I love Defoe for example, love him to bits, he’s one of my good mates and one of the best goalscorers I ever played with, but he’s one of the most selfish strikers you’ll ever come across in your life.

“He’ll look you directly in the eye, shoot, and then tell you he didn’t see you. We used to get in arguments all the time and he’d go ‘I didn’t see you Jay,’ and I’d say ‘You looked me in my eye, I know you saw me!’ whereas Keano would look you in the eye and pass you the ball.

“He was more of a team player and probably got less goals on the basis of that. There’s so much more to Keano than the goals, there’s more as a captain, how he brought the group together, how he knew when to be serious or when to have a laugh. He was a real leader.

Jenas continued by explaining that he believes Keane was largely underrated given his exploits for both club and country, having notched up a record 68 goals for Ireland during his career.

“He’s massively underrated. When you consider what he’s done for Ireland and how many goals he’s scored.

“To do that in a team with the quality he had around him, no disrespect to Ireland, he wasn’t playing for England where he was getting chances on a plate left, right and centre.”

“He was scary. If anyone beats his record for Ireland anytime soon I’d be shocked.”

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Coca-Cola ambassador and football TV pundit Jermaine Jenas was in Dublin this week to speak about Coca-Cola’s ongoing sponsorship of the Premier League. In 2019 Coca-Cola announced their three-and-a-half-year partnership as official soft drink sponsor with the Premier League.

Through Coca-Cola’s Where Everyone Plays campaign, the brand celebrates the people who play a role in making the Premier League the most diverse and exciting league in the world, whoever they are, wherever they are – from groundskeepers to fans and everyone in-between.

The partnership is the first football sponsorship which applies to across Coca-Cola’s diverse portfolio of brands including smartwater, Fanta and Coca-Cola Zero. Coca-Cola has a long and rich history supporting football at all levels, from the grassroots to the world stage, inspiring and uniting people all over the world, creating memorable experiences for players and fans.

To find out more about Coca-Cola’s partnership with the Premier League and see the full schedule of upcoming activity, visit www.coca-cola.ie/premier-league #WhereEveryonePlays.

Facebook.com/cocacolaireland, Twitter @cocacolaie, Instagram @cocacolaeu

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