'I had the sweats for two nights' - Keane reveals coronavirus struggle

Everton centre-back Michael Keane has opened up about his battle with coronavirus.

The 27-year-old contracted the disease after the Premier League had been suspended and had to isolate as a result.

Keane has revealed that he had difficulty breathing and could not go for a run before he tested positive.

“I got the virus after we’d finished training but before the country went into lockdown," he told The Mirror.

“I went to play golf at Wentworth, felt ill driving home but my pals didn’t get it so I don’t really understand where I got it.

“I was in the shower and all of a sudden I felt like I was going to faint. It wasn’t something that I’d had before. I came out of the shower, I was soaking wet, just lay on the bed and I just needed to lie down.

“I didn’t think too much of it, I was OK but then I woke up the next day and I felt really off. I didn’t have a cough but felt lethargic, low on energy and then went to bed that night and had the sweats for two nights.

“I went out for a run, was going out for 20 minutes but had to stop after three and a half minutes because my chest wasn’t right, I was really heavily breathing and I had to stop and walk home.

“I knew at that point something was wrong. I told the physios and they sent me a test, it arrived six days later by which time I felt better but it still came up positive.

“Even when I felt better, it probably took two weeks for my chest to feel back to normal when I was running.”

The Premier League has been suspended since March but will return later this month, with Everton hosting Everton on June 21.

The England international says he is excited to start playing again after such a long wait.  

“Three months without football has felt like an eternity and I can’t wait to get back to playing for Everton because I’m not sure I’ve ever gone this long without playing or knowing when I would play again," he added.

“It’s been such a strange time as I had the virus myself early on, training at home in lockdown, watching Netflix and getting back to contact training with all the new protocols.

“It’s been such a long time and when it became obvious that we wouldn’t be going into training for a while, I turned my garage at home into a gym to keep myself fit.

“I’ve got a peloton bike in there, treadmill, weights and flooring and mirrors. It’s a good set-up and once it’s in place I had no excuse!

“You knew you had to put the work in, you can’t cut corners and, looking at the lads since we’ve been back, I think everyone’s done that.

“I watched lots of Netflix, Ozark, Money Heist and then Gangs of London on Sky.

“But I also got back in touch with my old youth team coach Paul McGuinness at Manchester United and I ended speaking to him four or five times on Zoom.

“He works for the FA now and he really helped me with a few things. We looked at some clips and talked about my footwork, how I can turn quicker and going through drills which I can use to improve that.”