A star was born, and his name was Robbie Keane.

Here was a man, nay, a boy, with skill that almost defied belief, writes Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers.

He could do things not witnessed at Molineux for decades. Appropriately for an Irishman, his legs moved as quickly as Michael Flatley's.

He took players on for fun, the ball stuck to his feet in such a manner that you questioned whether he had velcro on his boots.

And he was 17.

While Keane's impact was a shock to many, those behind the scenes at Wolves had seen it coming.

He had moved to Molineux a year earlier on his 16th birthday, spurning offers from Premier League sides Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the belief he would have a better chance of first team football at Wolves.

Keane continued to impress at moving to Wolverhampton, scoring 36 goals in a single season for the youth team.

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The Express & Star reported at the time: "At one stage, Keane, although spotted by Irish-based Wolves scout Eddie Corcoran, seemed certain to join Forest after being given a red-carpet weekend in the East Midlands, including a chauffeur and the thrill of meeting Frank Clark's first-team stars in the tunnel before a match against Chelsea.

"But, once he had returned home to consider, Wolves made one final trip across the Irish Sea to try to tempt him.

"They had glimpsed that exciting ability and Graham Taylor backed the judgement of youth development officer Chris Evans and youth coach Robert Kelly.

"Contract in hand, the club finally got their boy, although they had remained adamant he should join them for football reasons, not financial ones.

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"Perseverance was followed by considerable after-care. Chairman Jonathan Hayward has been spotted at youth matches more than once and, when Evans suggested last week that the parents should be at Carrow Road on debut day, manager Mark McGhee needed little persuading."

The goals themselves were moments of genius - the first an improbably powerful left-footed half-volley on the spin, the second a breathtaking inside flick which left defender Victor Segura on his backside, before poking cheekily through the legs of keeper Andy Marshall and past the despairing dives of two more defenders.

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McGhee described his debutant as 'mesmerising'.

"We nearly fell over the balcony when he scored his first goal," Keane's mother Anne said. "I doubt whether the directors' box has ever seen anything like it!"

They took their superstar son out to dinner to celebrate. Keane drank blackcurrant and lemonade.

He scored 11 goals in total that season, 16 in 1998/99, and then two at the start of the 1999/2000 campaign, before Wolves could clip his wings no longer.

Coventry, Inter Milan, Leeds, Spurs, Liverpool, Celtic, West Ham, Villa and LA Galaxy have all been blessed by Keane's talent since, as of course have Ireland, with whom Keane is set for a swansong this summer at Euro 2016.

But Wolves had him first, an unpolished gem with the world at his feet.