Burnley place £30m price tag on United target Keane
Burnley are determined to play hardball over the future of defender Michael Keane.
Manchester United are in pole position to sign Keane, who has set his sights on a return to the club he left for £2million 2½ years ago.
United have yet to make a formal offer for the England centre-half, although one should be forthcoming after the Europa League final against Ajax next Wednesday. But despite Keane only having a year left on his contract, Burnley will not allow the 24-year-old to leave on the cheap and expect the clamour for his signature will help to keep the price high. Liverpool, Spurs and Everton are also interested and Burnley are likely to hold out for at least £30million.
United would hope to keep the price around the £25million mark but Burnley’s stance is hardened by the fact that they will have to pay 25 per cent of any transfer fee back to the Manchester club under the terms of the deal that took the
player to Turf Moor in January 2015. In United’s case, that would effectively translate as a discount on Keane. So if Burnley sold for £25 million, they would only receive £18.75million of the fee.
Burnley believe the £47.5 million fee, potentially rising to £50 million, that Manchester City paid Everton for John Stones last summer placed a high premium on young England defenders, although Everton’s position was strengthened significantly by Stones having three years left on his contract at Goodison Park.
Keane’s affairs have been handled by his brother and agent, Tom, but they have now joined forces with New Era Global Sports Management Ltd, the highly regarded agency formed by ex-players Jamie Moralee and Peter Smith for whom former United defender Rio Ferdinand is a mentor and ambassador. Keane’s likely arrival would raise fresh doubts over the future of Chris Smalling, for whom United will listen to offers. Mourinho has questioned Smalling’s mental toughness and apparent reluctance to play through the pain barrier and is also thought to harbour concerns about the centre-half ’s positional sense. Smalling and Phil Jones are fighting for one position alongside Daley Blind at centre-back against Ajax.
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce has sided with his United counterpart Jose Mourinho by claiming the Premier League should have moved their fixture on Sunday to tomorrow. in order to aid United’s preparations for the Europa League final.
“It’s a great shame we are not like other countries, who will bend over in fixture terms to help their teams win European competitions,” Allardyce said. “This will be Jose’s 60th game on Sunday. It’s a tremendous effort but no help unfortunately from the Premier League to give him the best chance of winning a trophy that United haven’t won.”