Thursday 1 September 2016 10:20, UK
Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill has confessed he would have relished the chance to work with a younger Robbie Keane ahead of the striker's international retirement
O'Neill took over as Republic boss in November 2013 by which time the former Tottenham forward was already 33-years-old, and with Keane's retirement now looming O'Neill paid tribute to the striker.
"Since I've come, the only disappointment I would have had is that I didn't have a 27-year-old Robbie Keane rather than a 33-year-old, at the time, I think he was," said O'Neill.
"He's been a terrific, an absolutely terrific player and certainly he will be hard to replace.
"Robbie will take away some great memories with the number of games he has played, the number of goals he has scored."
Keane, 36, will make his 146th and final Republic of Ireland appearance on Wednesday night against Oman at the Aviva Stadium as O'Neill hands him one last farewell.
The striker made his debut for the Republic at 17-years-old in 1998 and has been a mainstay in the Irish squad for the ensuing two decades, notching 67 goals in the process.
Keane is just one goal behind former German marksman Gerd Muller in the all-time list of European goalscorers and O'Neill joked that he would have to be quick to catch the German's tally, as he failed to reveal whether Keane would start on Wednesday.
"Is he one [goal] behind Gerd Muller? Is he? Well, he'd better do it in the first 20 minutes of the game because he's going to find time pressing, really pressing," O'Neill joked.
"I haven't told him whether he will start the game, but he will certainly be participating in the game. There's a fairly decent chance he will start the game."
Having played less of a role in first-team duties during Euro 2016, the LA Galaxy frontman said on Monday that now was the right time to retire internationally, remarking that the proudest moment of his career was being made Irish captain at the age of 26.
After Keane's emotional send-off on Wednesday night, Republic of Ireland face Serbia on September 5 in their first 2018 World Cup qualifier.
