By signing Robbie Keane, captain of Ireland’s national team, the Galaxy have made the biggest news in Major League Soccer since Thierry Henry went to New York to play for Red Bull.

Granted, Robbie Keane may be close to washed up, but when a guy spends most of a decade in the Premier League, and scores a record 51 international goals for Ireland, his arrival in MLS will be noted by soccer fans around the world, many of whom are far more interested in the Premier League than in their own domestic leagues.

For the Galaxy, then, this is the most noteworthy event — outside North America — since they signed David Beckham in 2006.

We can’t say whether it actually makes the Galaxy better.  We do know that Tottenham wanted Keane off their books, having loaned him to Celtic in Scotland for half of the 2009-10 season, and to West Ham United for the second half of the 2010-11 season. Tottenham pretty clearly was convinced he couldn’t make a difference in the Premiership.

The Mirror, a London tabloid which may just be guessing at numbers, declared Keane’s two-year deal with the Galaxy to be worth 6 million pounds, or more than $8 million. That seems steep for a 31-year-old forward who scored only two goals in nine games with West Ham, before they were relegated.

To make room on their roster for a third “designated” player, the Galaxy all but gave away the forward Juan Pablo Angel, who will be 36 in October, to Chivas USA, their Los Angeles rivals. Angel had only three goals in 22 games with the Galaxy, failing to make the sort of impact he left in New York or Aston Villa.

So, no, this may not make the Galaxy better, but rest assured fans of the Premier League will hear about the Keane move, or read about, and they will talk about it. Most probably will say something along the lines of, “he was about done, wasn’t he, and this would seem to prove it.”

But at least they know about the Galaxy, because of Beckham, and if Keane suddenly turns back the clock five years to when he was, indisputably, a very good player for Tottenham, the Galaxy will get back on the radar on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.