Everton FC correspondent Joe Thomas writes in praise of Michael Keane, perhaps the Blues' best-performing defender this season
Keeping Michael Keane was a great piece of business from Everton
Keeping Michael Keane was a great piece of business from Everton(Image: Katie Chan/Action Plus/Shutterstock)
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There was surprise in all quarters when Michael Keane extended his stay at Everton.
Both the player and the club ended last season exploring alternative options. The defender, having attracted interest from Italy, the USA and England, may well have ended up at Sheffield United had their Premier League promotion campaign not blown up so spectacularly. Everton, meanwhile, had lined up Brighton's Adam Webster as a replacement and talks were advanced on a deal that would bring him to Merseyside.
When it became clear there was a pathway to keeping hold of Keane, however, David Moyes stepped in. He was adamant the centre back could still hold value this season. He was right.
We saw that again at Arsenal. Keane lived dangerously at times - referee Andy Madley ruled in his favour when Kai Havertz hit the ground under contact from the 33-year-old. It would have been an easy penalty to give in front of a full Emirates that was desperate for an easy night to progress their challenge on all four fronts but Madley held firm and VAR backed him. Keane did not let any anxiety over that incident force him into hiding.
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Instead, he once again stood tall and strong. Before the penalty appeal he sprinted across to Noni Madueke as the winger threatened to cut in on goal. Keane was notably more aggressive than when he stood off Bryan Mbuemo in similar circumstances against Manchester United last month, the Cameroon forward exploiting that space to set up Benjamin Sesko's winner. This time he leapt into the danger and won a battle of strength that saved him from becoming a victim of Madueke's superior pace. Trouble was averted.
He was there at the vital moment time and time again. There has been no shortage of column inches about how Arsenal's reign at the top of the Premier League is supposedly down to the physicality and chicanery deployed at set pieces rather than any aesthetic quality to their machinations from open play. In fact, as reporters were packing up in the press box at least one supporter made great play of what he appeared to deem an unfair portrayal of his side's approach in the media.
Arsenal had eight corners but barely troubled Everton from them and that was largely down to Keane, who threw his head at everything - most importantly at the back post in the first half when the ball was glanced goalwards by a red and white shirt. He threw his body at everything, too, blocking and intercepting as Arsenal spent much of the game failing to pass their way through a stubborn, disciplined defence that seemed to enjoy the challenge of protecting their box against what is currently the best club side in England, probably Europe.
None of this is new. Few players have redeemed themselves as emphatically as Keane has at Everton. There was once a time when the prospect of the former Burnley man being named in the starting XI sent shudders through parts of the fanbase. His association with calamity was always harsh - and often overlooked the problems around him in a side that lost its steel, and then its best full-backs, leaving him exposed and facing his own goal and under pressure to act all too often. It also marked the times he emerged as a saviour, often in sensational fashion. He started THAT comeback against Crystal Palace, his last minute rocket against Tottenham Hotspur was valuable and the stunning finish at Ipswich Town last season paved the way for easy passage through what threatened to be a dangerous tie.
It is a mark of his professionalism, his maturity and his determination that when his name featured in the starting XI against Arsenal, few blinked. There was even an understanding the game might be suited to his strengths given Everton were always likely to spend much of the match camped on the edge of their box. That proved to be the case.
Keane has, for me, been Everton's best defender this season. That is not me arguing he is the best defender at the club, nor that I think the team works best with him in it - an achievable progression for this team is having a centre back pairing that includes the pace of Jarrad Branthwaite or Jake O'Brien that allows it to push up the pitch and close some of the gaps between the lines that have been problematic, particularly earlier in the season. I like the prospect of O'Brien and Branthwaite playing together - though when I recently asked David Moyes whether that was on his radar he said it was not, at least not unless it was enforced.
He has become a reliable, dependable figure at the back and a consistently solid performer in what has been a very good defence. Across 22 starts this season he was there in that win at Manchester United, at Fulham and at Arsenal, where there could have been few complaints had Everton been the team that grabbed a late winner. His goals are useful, too, and nothing has happened to dispel the idea he is still the best finisher at the club.
What comes next for Keane will be interesting. He is again out of contract in the coming months. Everton moved early to tie up Tarkowski, also 33, earlier in the season and in Branthwaite and O'Brien have a powerhouse partnership for the future, however quickly that comes. Yet with Branthwaite's injury issues over the past year meaning that, at best, he will require careful management for the rest of the season, and now the ever-present Tarkowski missing his first game of the campaign with an injury that emerged on Friday and which Moyes refused to discuss on Saturday, it looks like he will have a role to play.
If that is alongside O'Brien then Saturday, like when they last played together in the win at Newcastle United last season, suggested Everton can move forward with confidence. O'Brien has also been excellent when allowed to play in his favoured central position.
Moyes told me on Friday that he has not started to seriously consider the summer but when his mind has wondered in that direction it has been on who he might be able to bring in rather than those on expiring contracts, which also includes Idrissa Gueye, Vitalii Mykolenko, Seamus Coleman and goalkeeper Tom King. Given the concerns he might end this season with, and the esteem in which he holds Keane on and off the pitch, it would be easy to envisage a scenario in which he places his trust in the former Man Utd youngster for another 12 months - particularly if Everton qualified for Europe given the pressure that would apply on the squad.
Tarkowski's presence and leadership is valued highly and Branthwaite and O'Brien are real talents whose progress should not be impeded unnecessarily. But this season has shown the value in having four trusted centre backs - and Keane has once again held his own in a position of strength for the Blues.