What Everton dressing room think of Jarrad Branthwaite new contract.
Michael Keane has opened up on what team-mates think about Jarrad Branthwaite signing a new five-year deal at Everton as well as committing his own future to the Blues for another season.
Although the pair of them are rivals for a place in the side, Keane, who wore the armband himself after the break in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Accrington Stanley, acknowledged he is thrilled that Everton’s most valuable player has decided to stay with them as they move from Goodison Park to Hill Dickinson Stadium.
He said: “It was brilliant (that Branthwaite signed a new contract). I was really happy that he’s decided to stay.
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“He’s still really young, especially for a centre-half. He’s got a huge future ahead of him.
“Everton is a huge football club and there’s no rush to leave. He’s playing Premier League football, can keep learning and getting more experience can be really important for him going forward.
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“I think it’s great for everyone involved and we’re really happy to have Jarrad still here.
“He’s really calm. It’s just how he is as a person. His personality off the pitch is really calm and he’s never flustered, you can see that in how he plays, he’s a brilliant player.”
Keane, who has been at Everton since 2017, saw his own five-year deal expire this summer before agreeing a new one-year contract that was announced on July 4.
But although he’s got James Tarkowski – who started 109 consecutive premier League games for the club before suffering a hamstring injury against Manchester City in April – and Jake O’Brien to contend with, alongside Branthwaite, he insists he hasn’t just stayed on to make up the numbers.
The 32-year-old said: “I’m happy with the role the manager has got for me. He hasn’t said to me: ‘You’re fourth choice, and you’re going to be on the bench all season,’ he’s asked me to compete, train as well as I can and play well, when I get the chance.
“That’s what I’m here to do. I’m hopeful that there will be points in the season where I do get to play and show what I can do like I did at the end of last season, so I’ve just got to train hard like I’ve always done, and be ready.”
On resolving his future, Keane added: “It feels good as I didn’t like the uncertainty of not knowing what I was going to do, or where I was going to be, so to get it sorted just before pre-season started, I was really happy. Now I can just get my head down, crack on and focus on football.”
Everton now go to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday and after three games in the USA against Bournemouth, West Ham United and Manchester United, they will conclude their preparations for an historic season with their inaugural first team fixture on the Mersey waterfront on August 9 against Serie A side Roma, who are also owned by The Friedkin Group.
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