Michael Keane looked on his way out of Everton in January after his form dipped last winter. The 27-year-old returned to the starting eleven when the transfer window shut, however, and impressed so much that we’re now looking to extend his contract.
The Times say Everton will open talks with Keane to retain his services past 2022 and it’s worth noting how remarkable a turnaround this is for the 27-year-old – Keane was so short of form and confidence earlier in the season that he ended up being dropped by his club and country.
What happened to Keane in 2019/20?
The £25.6m man’s poor form coincided with our woeful start to last season where we picked up just four wins and two draws from our first 15 Premier League games and found ourselves sitting 18th in the table with 14 points.
Keane was a regular in August, September and October as we lost six of our opening 10 games, conceding 15 goals, so it wasn’t a surprise when he was dropped the following month.
The 27-year-old was an unused substitute in our 1-1 draw with Tottenham (November 3), played a minute in the 2-1 win over Southampton (November 9), and was an unused substitute in the 2-0 defeat to Norwich City (November 23).
For England, Keane was an unused substitute in the 6-0 win over Bulgaria (October 14) before being dropped for the 7-0 win over Montenegro (November 14) and 4-0 win over Kosovo (November 17).
And while returning to Everton’s starting eleven in December, Keane was hammered by fans after our 5-2 defeat to Liverpool (December 4) and slated by supporters following our EFL Cup exit at the hands of Leicester City (December 18).
He was dribbled past more times (7) in nine games between September and December than the rest of the season. Keane committed more fouls (12) in 13 games between August and December than the rest of the campaign. He only blocked three shots between October and December too. Thankfully, the centre-back turned things around.
Resurgence in 2020
Keane featured in all but four of Everton’s 18 league games in 2020. We won six, drew six and lost six. He was a regular alongside Mason Holgate at centre-back and kept Yerry Mina out of the team on merit.
Earlier in the season, Keane was an afterthought who was expendable, but now we can’t imagine not including him in the starting eleven ahead of our opening day meeting with Tottenham Hotspur.
In other news, Everton signing this Manchester United defender would be bad business, even for £10m