Jordan Pickford signed for Everton from Sunderland in a £25 million deal – but he could’ve ended up at Premier League rivals Leicester City instead.
Sam Allardyce believes Everton number one Jordan Pickford is the best young goalkeeper in Europe – and revealed to talkSPORT that Leicester City made a big-money bid for the England international during his formative years at Sunderland.
Moving from Wearside to Merseyside for £25 million two years ago (BBC), Pickford is the fifth most expensive shot-stopper of all time with only Alisson Becker, Kepa Arizzabalaga, Ederson and Gianlugi Buffon signed for higher fees than a lad from Washington.
But if Leicester had their way, Pickford would be competing with Kasper Schmeichel for a place in Brendan Rodgers’ starting XI right now instead.
Speaking to the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, former Sunderland manager Allardyce has admitted that director of football Steve Walsh tried to take Pickford to Leicester before he left The Foxes to take over at Everton.
“I brought him back from (a loan spell at) Preston (in January 2016). He had a few games and we got offered an awful lot of money from Steve Walsh at Leicester,” said Allardyce, who handed Pickford his Premier League debut at Sunderland.
“It was no surprise when Walsh was director at Everton (that Pickford moved to Goodison Park). There’s not a better young goalkeeper around in Europe right now.”
Pickford only made 31 top flight appearances for the Black Cats before Everton made him the most expensive English goalkeeper in the history of the game. Though whether he’s been worthy of that £25 million price-tag is another matter altogether.
There’s no doubting Pickford’s natural talent but he really needs to start ironing out those naïve mistakes and erratic performances which continue to cast doubt on whether he will live up to his full potential.
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