Michael Keane almost lost his foot and was wearing boots two sizes too big for him last season while playing on medication
MICHAEL KEANE almost had to have his foot amputated and was forced to wear a boot two sizes too big for him while playing on medication, he has revealed.
The 25-year-old defender saw his first season with the Toffees and a potential World Cup adventure wrecked after being hospitalised with an infection.
Keane has had a horrid time of injuries since his £25m move to Everton in July 2017, most recently being taken to hospital during his sides' 2-2 draw against Bournemouth in August.
The defender fractured his skull after suffering a sickening crack on the head from team-mate Idrissa Gueye but fortunately, he returned to action a month later.
This was unlike the wound he gained at the start of last season when he was forced off during Everton's 3-0 League Cup win over Sunderland after a two-footed challenge from James Vaughan.
Despite featuring in games after the injury, the gash continued to bother him and Keane has now revealed for the first time the true extent of the injury that derailed his World Cup prospects.
Speaking to , Keane recalled: “I played on, but I knew that something wasn’t right and I had a hole straight through the top of my boot from his studs.
"I went in at half-time and my foot was aching but I didn’t do anything about it and played the second half. When I took my boot off again there was blood everywhere.”
The defender was stitched up by Everton's medical team but awoke the following day “in absolute agony".
He relied on painkillers to ensure a fast return to the first team in time to face his old club, Burnley, but his foot had become numb at this point and necessitated a switch from a usual size 10 boot to a size 12.
“I could kick a ball but the ‘feel’ wasn’t the same. I played quite well against Burnley but it was after that things took a turn for the worse.”
Keane enhanced his World Cup prospects by contributing to clean sheets against both Slovenia and Lithuania but he was then forced into action during Everton's 5-2 defeat to Arsenal.
The match, which became Ronald Koeman's last game in charge, may have also been Keane's last for The Toffees as well as he was soon faced with losing his foot.
During the game, his foot had swelled dramatically, with the inflammation rising up his leg, and the star was soon rushed to a private hospital in Liverpool and put on antibiotics.
“If it had kept going up my leg that’s when it really gets serious — they said if it had got much worse we might have been looking at losing the foot.”
Ever keen to rescue Everton's faltering campaign, Keane once again rushed back without full fitness and it was months before the once-hot prospect regained his form.
From once lauded as one of the young stars of England's future to a flop, Keane has now explained the lessons he's learnt from last season.
“I developed a thick skin. Naturally, when things aren’t going well, you get stick from fans and there were times I didn’t want to go out in public.
“In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t best for me to keep playing — but I can’t say I’ve regrets.
"I was brought up to show determination. I didn’t want my teammates to think that I’d shy away from problems. The team was struggling and I wanted to be in the thick of the action.”
“It was gutting not to go to the World Cup but I knew I had my own performances to blame — even if the reasons for those performances maybe weren’t my fault."
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Keane, who now plays in his regular size 10 with silicone padded socks, hopes his return to form this year may lead to a fresh start with England.
"I just hope I can get back in and be part of it again. England are going places.”