After a bit of speculation about such a move, Everton announced that veteran defender Michael Keane will stay at the club for at least one more season, as he signed an extended contract to keep him until June 2027.
The 2026/27 campaign will be Keane's tenth on the Blue half of Merseyside, having arrived from Burnley in the summer of 2017.
Keane was almost instantly thrust into the lineup as a regular starter at center back, playing in 30+ matches and starting the majority of those appearances each year from his arrival until 2022. That was when James Tarkowski joined, also from Burnley, along with Conor Coady, which saw Keane relegated to the bench more often than not.
From 2022 until last season, he made just 35 appearances (25 starts) and played just under 2500 minutes combined, and when his contract ran out in June of 2025, most Evertonians assumed he'd look for an opportunity where he could play more frequently.
But David Moyes saw fit to bring Keane back over the summer, and the center back took the club up on its offer, despite the fact that he wasn't guaranteed a starting position with Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite ahead of him.
But Branthwaite's early-season injury struggles immediately saw Keane thrust into the starting XI for Everton's opener against Leeds United, and he's now started 24 matches this season, with Moyes still finding ways to use him after Branthwaite returned.
The question is whether Keane will have a major role to play in next season's squad.
Branthwaite should be ready for the start of the season even after his most recent injury. Tarkowski signed his own extension earlier in the year, and it feels likely that Jake O'Brien may be released from having to play right back if Everton finally finds a suitable replacement this summer.
That would make Keane the fourth choice center back, and while he'd be as solid a fourth option as they come, the fight for pitch time would become more difficult.
There's nothing inherently wrong with bringing Keane back. Everton cannot rebuild the entire squad in one summer, and there are bigger fish -- namely at fullback and defensive mid -- to fry before center back depth comes into the conversation.
It's just a little surprising they made the move so early and that Keane agreed to what could be a very light-work tenth season with the Toffees.
Either way, Michael Keane will be back in Everton blue next season, as he has been for nearly the past decade.
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