The transfer of Robbie Keane to Liverpool moved closer last night when the Ireland forward was omitted from the Tottenham Hotspur squad for a friendly match in Spain, with the Merseyside club hoping to conclude an £18million deal this weekend. Despite their complaint to the Premier League about Liverpool's conduct, Tottenham are resigned to selling their vice-captain, as underlined by his absence from a 19-man squad when Juande Ramos's team took on Hercules in Alicante.

Tottenham made no comment about Keane's absence before the match and are expected to play down its significance, but the 28-year-old, who has informed Ramos, the Tottenham head coach, of his desire to join Liverpool, is not believed to be carrying an injury, having trained on Wednesday. Dimitar Berbatov, who is agitating for a move to Manchester United, was included in the starting line-up.

The imminent breakthrough over Keane would raise further doubts about Liverpool's protracted bid to sign Gareth Barry from Aston Villa. Despite having raised £20million this summer by offloading Scott Carson, John Arne Riise, Danny Guthrie and Peter Crouch, Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, has been told that there are insufficient funds to proceed with deals for his two principal targets. Much to the anguish of Martin O'Neill, the Villa manager, the Barry deal is on the back burner while Benítez looks for a club willing to offer him £16million for Xabi Alonso, the Spain midfield player.

Benítez may also be about to lose Álvaro Arbeloa, who was expected to start the new season as first-choice right back. Arbeloa has performed consistently since a £2.6million move from Deportivo La Coruña in January 2007, but it emerged yesterday that the 25-year-old plans to return to Spain for personal reasons. Benítez has two other options at right back, but, given that Steve Finnan has been offered to Villa as a makeweight in the Barry deal and that Philipp Degen is unproven, the loss of Arbeloa would be keenly felt.

It has been a summer of upheaval at Anfield, with Sebastián Leto, the Argentine winger, joining the exodus after agreeing a loan move to Olympiacos. Benítez has spent only £11million on four players - Diego Cavalieri, Andrea Dossena, Degen and David Ngog, a 19-year-old forward, who completed a £1.5million move from Paris Saint-Germain yesterday - and Alan Hansen, the former Liverpool captain, believes that even the capture of Barry and Keane would leave them short of title-winning quality.

“They are getting closer, but they still need three or four players,” Hansen said yesterday. “Barry would be a great acquisition, but really they need wide players, a couple of full backs and wingers. Liverpool rely too heavily on the goals of Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard. If they go with the squad they have, their 11 best players can compete. But, whereas United and Chelsea can replace quality with quality, Liverpool can't.”

The situation should become clearer today, when Alonso returns to pre-season training, having been given an extended break, along with Arbeloa and others, after his role in Spain's European Championship triumph. If Alonso insists on staying, Benítez may be forced to drop his interest in Barry, at least until January. That would allow him to concentrate on signing Keane and a left winger, although, unless further funds can be raised by selling players such as Jermaine Pennant and Andriy Voronin, the emphasis would be on mid-price options such as Stewart Downing, of Middlesbrough, James Milner, of Newcastle United, and Albert Riera, of Espanyol.

O'Neill is desperate for Barry's future to be settled but will consider selecting the midfield player in an Intertoto Cup match against Odense tomorrow. “It's a long-running saga and I wouldn't mind it ending one way or other,” O'Neill said. “We have our own plans to make. We should not be at the behest of Liverpool Football Club.”