Premier League giants Everton could face a fight holding onto goalkeeper Jordan Pickford with La Liga colossus Atletico Madrid planning a bid.
As Koke pointed out recently when discussing the future of Antoine Griezmann, Atletico Madrid are used to seeing their best players depart year after year but they have quite the knack of getting back up again.
Diego Costa, Miranda, Arda Turan, Thibaut Courtois have all departed Los Colchoneros since their historic La Liga title win in 2014 but, four years on, they are Barcelona’s greatest challengers for the league title. You can expect that Atletico will be there again next season too, even if arguably the world’s best goalkeeper leaves Madrid.
The Express claim that Arsenal and Chelsea are fighting it out for Jan Oblak, who has an £88 million release clause in his contract, but Don Balon believe that Diego Simeone’s side already have a replacement in mind – none other than Jordan Pickford.
It is understood that Atletico would be willing to pay around £40 million for the former Sunderland ‘stopper – handing Everton a tidy £10 million profit on a player they only signed last summer.
But while this deal would make perfect sense for Atletico, it would be the complete opposite for Everton.
Yes, they would be getting a decent return on their £30 million investment, but if Everton are to really kick on and fight for a place in the top six in the coming years, they need to keep their most gifted and promising talents at Goodson Park.
And Pickford, who stands an excellent chance of being England’s number one at the World Cup, is exactly that.
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