Report: West Ham trailing in race to sign £30m Everton player Lampard is barely picking

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Nottingham Forest are leading the race for Michael Keane but face a battle with a host of Premier League clubs – including West Ham United.

Everton decided to bring in new centre backs over the summer.

Conor Coady and James Tarkowski both came in with Frank Lampard looking to build an experienced back four.

Coady and Tarkowski have largely played well together this season but their arrivals means some Everton defenders may look to leave.

Nottingham Forest are leading the race for Michael Keane

Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey are just a couple of Everton defenders who are now stuck behind Coady and Tarkowski in the pecking order as both deal with injury problems.

Then there is Michael Keane.

Keane, 29, has only made one Premier League appearance this season and that came as a substitute for 22 minutes against Brentford in August.

Everton struck a deal worth up to £30million for Keane back in 2017 having seen him impress in the Burnley defence.

Keane has been pretty inconsistent for Everton though and never really looked the player he did for the Clarets.

Lampard seemingly isn’t all that keen on Keane and an exit now appears inevitable.

The Sunday Mirror (04/12, p82) report that Keane is set to go out on loan in January as he seeks first-team football away from Everton.

It’s suggested that Nottingham Forest are at the front of the queue to sign Keane as things stand.

Loic Bade’s loan move has been bizarre and Cooper may now look for Keane to come in as a proven Premier League defender.

Yet it’s added that Fulham, Leicester City and West Ham United are also interested in taking Keane away from Goodison Park.

Keane has actually played for Leicester before having spent time on loan there during the 2012-13 season.

West Ham boss David Moyes was in charge at Manchester United when Keane was emerging there, so there are a couple of connections involved there.

Forest will hope to fend off the competition and use up their second Premier League loan slot on Keane.