#INSERT type:image caption:Robbie Keane is taking the first stage of his coaching badges. END#
LA Galaxy striker Robbie Keane has said he would like to coach his native Republic of Ireland one day.
Keane, the Republic's all-time record goal-scorer, completed the first stages of his coaching qualifications in Ireland last year and confirmed that he plans to move into management when he retires from playing.
"I would like to be a manager, but I would still be coaching at the start -- whether that is in America, I don't know," Keane told sundayworld.com. "Long-term I would like to work in England."
"Would the ultimate goal be to manage Ireland? Maybe one day, yeah. It is something I would be interested in. A few years down the line, it would have to be.
"I'm not going to get something like that at the start but, like anything, it depends on what opportunities you get. You don't walk into jobs. You have to establish yourself first."
Keane has worked under bosses including Mick McCarthy, Harry Redknapp, Rafael Benitez and Giovanni Trapattoni and Martin O'Neill in his lengthy career.
"When I first went on the coaching badges, I wasn't too sure whether I would enjoy it or not," he said.
"I thought: 'I will test the water here' because you don't really know until you give it a go, but I enjoy it.
"I enjoy speaking to younger players at the training field and helping them. When you are a player, you know what works. The most important thing about training sessions is to keep the players enjoying themselves."
Keane suggested a role alongside an experienced head coach could be his route into management.
"I have a lot to offer on the training field in terms of sessions that I know players will like," he explained.
"When you are an assistant manager, you have to be in between the players and the manager. You have to have the relationship where you can sometimes go to those players who don't feel comfortable going to the manager."