Leicester City in 100 players: Kasey Keller

USA international goalkeeper Keller made 125 appearances for Leicester City between 1996 and 1999.

While studying in the US at the University of Portland for a sociology degree, he played semi-professionally for the Portland Timbers, later signing for Millwall in February 1992. He was the Lions’ Player of the Year in 1992/93 and, after playing 202 games for the London club, signed for Martin O’Neill’s Leicester City for a reported fee of £900,000 with add-ons.

Kasey helped the Foxes finish top of the Premier League in each of his three seasons at Filbert Street. Played in two League Cup finals, winning one. He also played in the UEFA Cup for the club. In addition, he won 21 of his 102 international caps while a City player.

Several times during his time at Filbert Street, Kasey had to fly out midweek to play for the US national team and then return to Leicester by the end of the week. That’s because CONCACAF games didn’t fit into FIFA’s schedule at the time. His performance in the USA’s win over Brazil in the semifinals of the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup led Brazil’s Romário to remark that Kasey’s performance that day was the best goalkeeping performance he had ever seen. Romário even shook his hand in the middle of the game.

In July 1999, Kasey moved to newly promoted La Liga side Rayo Vallecano, before returning to the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur on a free transfer in August 2001.

As a Spurs player, he conceded the last goal at Filbert Street when he was beaten by Leicester City’s Matt Piper. Played every minute of every game for Tottenham in 2002/03 and 2003/04.

After two seasons with Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga between 2005 and 2007, Kasey spent one final season in England with Fulham in the Premier League before returning to the US to play for the Seattle Sounders from 2009 to 2011.

In 2015, Kasey was inducted into the USA Soccer Hall of Fame. This is because in addition to his club career, he also had a very distinguished international career with the US national teams. He was an under-20 international in 1989. He was involved in the World Cup finals in 1990, 1998, 2002 and 2006. He played in the 1996 Olympic team. He was also a CONCACAF Gold Cup winner in 1991, 2002 , 2005 and 2007 and runner-up in 1998.