Manchester United join Everton and Chelsea in race to sign Michael Keane

Manchester United are the latest club to join the race to sign Burnley defender Michael Keane. It was less than three years back that the Red Devils allowed him to leave the club on a permanent basis.

Jose Mourinho is keen on strengthening his backline in the summer and has identified Keane as a potential candidate to shore up his backline. The former United defender has impressed with Burnley this campaign having played the full 90 minutes all 33 games thus far.

According to the Mirror, United are not the only candidates vying for the defender's signature with Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Everton and Liverpool ready to tempt Keane away from Turf Moor. Burnley will be reluctant to sell one their best players, but it is believed that a bid in the region of £30m ($38.4m) could tempt them to part with him – it is almost 12 times more than the £2.5m the Clarets paid to sign him from the Old Trafford club in 2015.

The 25-year-old's impressive showing this season saw him called up to the England squad for their friendly against Germany and the World Cup qualifier against Lithuania. Keane played in both the games and impressed, thus raising his stock and interest from the Premier League big guns.

Everton are said to be leading the race to land the defender during the summer transfer window. Ronald Koeman gave the biggest hint yet that the Toffees will enter the race for his signature when he praised Keane ahead of Everton's 3-1 win over Burnley on Saturday (15 April).

"I think he's one of the young centre-backs with a great future in front of him," Koeman was quoted as saying by the Mirror.

"He is one of the defenders really involved in the season of Burnley – it's not easy to score, it is not easy to create against them," the Toffees manager added.