SOCCER:SPURRED ON perhaps by the news that Birmingham City have agreed terms with Tottenham for the player, West Ham yesterday confirmed their renewed interest in Republic of Ireland skipper Robbie Keane with Avram Grant revealing talks are in progress about a deal for the player.

The sudden activity follows the confirmation Tottenham, who had been quoting an asking price of around €8.4 million for the Irishman, have significantly softened their position and are now willing to accept an initial payment of fractionally over half that.

The original fee being demanded might not have been considered such a great problem were it not for the fact Keane himself is expected to seek to match his current wages which run to about €75,000 per week. The two figures combined would mean the striker coming with a price tag of around €20 million over three and a half years, a figure that both West Ham and Birmingham had baulked at.

City did actively pursue the matter last week when they felt they had a good chance of persuading Tottenham to lower their asking price.

The club’s interest appeared to wane slightly, however, when officials got the impression Keane was not actually all that enthusiastic about joining them in the event that a fee was agreed.

It remains to be seen whether that is still the case but it emerged yesterday a figure of around €4.4 million plus half as much again in potential add-ons has now been settled upon and Alex McLeish will now try to persuade the 30-year-old to make the switch to the English midlands once the weekend’s derby match against Aston Villa is out of the way.

Newcastle United, meanwhile, were also enthusiastic about recruiting the player but with the club trying to rein in its wage bill, Alan Pardew appears only have been in a position to offer a loan move, something ruled out again yesterday by Harry Redknapp, and the St James’ Park outfit has now switched its attention to Cardiff’s Jay Bothroyd.

After a couple of false starts, however, West Ham’s renewed interest means the race for Keane’s signature finally appears to up and running.

With Birmingham suddenly appearing to be leading the way, the Londoners have come back to the table in the hope of securing a proven top-flight goalscorer on the sort of terms now agreed to by Tottenham.

Redknapp, indeed, confirmed yesterday West Ham are now actively chasing the player and Grant strongly seemed to suggest that the numbers involved are no longer seen as an insurmountable barrier.

“We have a few targets we want to bring in,” he said. “It’s not a secret that I am friends with Harry and I speak with him every couple of days. He (Keane) is a player we want to bring for sure. We are dealing with this.”

Late interest from other clubs in the Irishman remains a possibility with Fulham, in particular, being linked with a move for the striker in recent days.