Everton defender Micheal Keane has insisted that the high level of competition for places amongst the Toffees centre-backs is a good thing for the Goodison Park outfit.
Although young duo Mason Holgate and Kurt Zouma looked far from convincing as a pair in Everton’s last game, a 3-1 loss against West Ham, both players do possess decent potential.
Marco Silva also has £25 million former Burnley defender Keane, club stalwart Phil Jagielka and highly-rated summer signing from Barcelona Yerry Mina competing for a starting berth at centre-back.
England international Keane is adamant that this level of competitiveness within a squad can only be a good thing with the players all pushing each other to improve.
“Competition is good and it is needed in every position,” he told evertontv.
“I think it continually pushes you – you know you cannot relax and it might make you subconsciously work that bit harder in training every day.
“You are always unsure about your place but it puts pressure on you to play well in every game and that brings out the best in us.
“We have a lot of very good centre-backs and we all want to play, which is healthy for Everton.”