Pickford signs new deal at Everton

Top $ if he goes.

In fairness, where else would he go that would be a step up from Everton?

And his commitment to the cause recently has been very visible. I know that the show for the cameras can not always mean a lot, but he seems committed.

He had improved and matured. Let's get him signed up.

Hopefully the new deal allows us to command a top fee for him that can be used to strengthen the overall team. With Gordon leaving for a very good fee, surely this would allow us to spend in the summer.

And good luck to Jordan, if he leaves, he's been a good keeper for us. Albeit, with some dodgy moments, but every keeper has those. Especially young ones.

Eh? We need the best keeper we can afford. It doesn't matter who the manager is — it's not him firing shots at our keeper every week.

If he has a better contract, then whoever wants to sign him in the future will have to improve on it. This could also add to his transfer fee and that will help Everton.

The down side will be the cost in getting someone better.

Just Tom Davies to tie down next…

Great news, if it is true.

UTFTs!

Good news on Pickford, he needs more slack than he gets; this man is world class.

I'm not convinced it would be easy to find another reliable keeper if we did sell on to make a profit.

Can't believe people are asking if we need him. He's essential.

Let's not begin a cult after 3 games shall we? We've had enough false dawns in my time.

Lee, Pickford can play well in a direct side. He has used long balls and throws to great effect for England. At Everton, I don't know if it is the wind or what that seems to blow the ball into the Main Stand but, if we can get some windbreakers, maybe he could thrive.

Great shot-stopper and, as much as I hate giving blues stick, he will always be prone to stupid errors, and causes way too much panic at the back. At one point in time, I even thought he was a kopite.

Big question is who has the money and would take the risk? Certainly not the Geordies. Would Man Utd go for someone risky, like De Gea? Leaves Chelsea or Man City, both of whom shouldn't be splashing the cash in the Summer. Spurs a maybe.

Chances are he will be with us next season, unless we drop.

I'd be happy if he stayed as I think he is improving with age – the next 5 years will be his best.

As he's had the same coach for years (?) now, I guess a change or a new set of eyes would potentially fix these. No harm in continually seeking improvement.

"Just Tom Davies to tie down next…"

I have got some really strong ropes and chains that Houdini couldn't escape from, we just need to find the next Rocket into Space, ironically, something that Tom Davies never finds!

Let's also hope that Kenwright is holding his hand when countdown finishes ! :-)

We never learn! Pickford, Mina, Gomes, Alli, Iwobi, Davies, Mykolenko and Calvert Lewin should all be shipped out and we’d be much better for it.

I doubt anyone would pay close to £50 million given he will be a free agent in a little over 12 months. The "stupid errors" charge though is something Spurs fans say of Lloris, Man Utd fans of De Gea, more recently Liverpool fans of Allison. Then you have Pope and Ramsdale – neither of whom could usurp him as England Number 1 due to their stupid errors.

I was surprised to come across articles in the last few weeks with both Brighton and Brentford fans criticizing their erratic goalies. My point being that I think all goalies have a "mistake" in them but it tends to get amplified a million times louder than when outfield players make mistakes. If you think of the latter days of Southall or Howard or even Seaman, he is better now than either of them were then.

If we do keep him, we deserve his best years given what we have been through.

But I don't get the hate. He kept us up as much as anyone last season, alongside Richarlison and the fans. He's been largely error-free the past couple of years. He's not great on balls in the air, but I'll take his shot-stopping as much as anyone in the Premier League.

Obviously there's a price for anyone, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Man Utd or Spurs offer £60 million or something we can't refuse. If somehow we recruited well, that kind of deal would make sense.

And of course there's a wage that's excessive but, for a world-class keeper in his prime, that number has to be pretty high. It's not like keepers of his quality are just sitting on the bench somewhere or can be plucked for £15 million from a lower league. Sure, you might get lucky and find one, but I'll take overpaying wages on a known commodity than taking that chance any day.

Carlo Ancelotti helped him by leaving him out of the team for a spell. Once he returned for the final weeks of the 2020-21 season, he became more reliable and has generally played well for the last 2 years.

He still makes errors, most notably for the first goal at Bournemouth this season and for Ward-Prowse's free-kick at Goodison, but they are fewer and further between than they were.

The news of his contract extension is positive in terms of preventing a discounted sale this summer or the player running down his contract. There are bound to be release clauses and it would be interesting to know how much we are paying him.

It's weird but the world can be very unforgiving to goalies.

Remember when Jim Leighton was rivalling Southall as best of British then he made mistakes in that cup game, was replaced by Les Sealy and no big club ever gave him a chance again.

Stekelenburg going to Juve as the best thing since sliced bread then ended up at Everton with a reputation as a dodgy Number 2. In spite of which, I recall him having a MotM performance against Man City one time.

He's made some bonehead errors but they all do. As mentioned above, there's nowhere for goalies to hide, most of their mistakes end up as a goal against and get remembered more than all the saves. Karrius starting for the Barcodes in the League Cup Final, I think?

We've done it for decades and never seem to learn.

I don't honestly remember Southall, when he became our No 1, ever making an error. Maybe it's just me… but – as Carlsberg say – ‘probably' the best keeper ever.

I guess you're right. It wasn't so much "errors" I suppose –more that he went downhill fast in his later years due to being overweight.

Errors more common these days due to the pace of the game and change to the back-pass rule.

Pickford and Onana are our two Champions League type players. It would be good if we can commence next season with them both. Branthwaite and an attacker of quality too (not Ryan Fraser).

Here's hoping.

And Mike, with all affection, I think you're out of your mind.

While you're at it, give Maupay an extension – our one-goal wonder...

And give each board member a big cash bonus for being super great at their jobs.

That's where most of the errors come from today... keepers with the ball at their feet, like Courtois.

'Sell him and spend the money' – because that has worked wonders with Stones, Lukaku, Richarlison, Gordon – we've always improved when selling our better players haven't we, I mean thank god we sold Gueye, that money came in really handy to sign Gbmain that we went and signed Gueye to replace himself 3 years later.

Good goalkeepers are difficult to find. Pickford makes mistakes, as do they all – yesterday saw two of the world's best keepers make massive blunders, Ramsdale makes blunders, Ederson makes blunders, de Gea makes blunders – but Pickford's pros far outweigh his cons and, for a club at our level, we'd massively struggle to replace him with anyone near as good.

Also, he's at his peak; if we don't sign him up, we'll lose him for half his true value, or even lose him on a free. So why would we even consider not giving him a new contract?

Pickford's kicking (the power, distance and, at times, accuracy) has been severely under-utilised, if not buried, by all the managers ever since he joined us. When Dyche was hired, I was quietly giddly because I believe he is the one manager who will unleash this ability of Pickford's.

So far so good as we have seen Pickford punting long more frequently: a few of those balls actually were almost placed directly on to Calvert-Lewin's head during the Arsenal game (whether he was winning those headers is another subject).

That's a damn good point I'd forgotten about.

Absolutely spot on.

Undisputed first choice for England and our only world class player since Rooney, yet some on here would happily see him depart, it's beyond belief.

Managers rated Joe Hart highly until they didn't.

Ask fans of other clubs what they think of him and you will get varying responses. The Kopites think they can't get to him. So do the Mancs. The Geordies know they can get to him. Others will say he is the best in the country.

He can be world class. We've all seen incredible performances from him, but he can most definitely be rattled and distracted.

The good days comfortably outweigh the bad days. He may not be ultra-consistent, but he is the most consistent player we have by a mile.

Joe Hart had a couple of weaknesses. One was that he was slow getting down to low shots and had been found out, he was also hopeless at tippy-tappy distributing the ball from his area. He was finished when Pep came.

He is England's Number 1 and as good as we can hope for.

He plays too much in our 6-yard box and isn't as commanding enough as we would like. He occasionally loses his head but, as John says, that's becoming less frequent as he matures. He still irritates me with the rugby-like punts aiming for possession and territory. Is that his instinct or what he is told to do?

His shot-stopping is almost second to none and he's given me breathless moments before coming around again to realise he did actually save it. Sometimes twice in the space of a few seconds. Only Neville Southall done that to me.

On Neville, I'm not sure he would have made a good coach. Watching him and having watched documentaries since, he seemed an insular character who just wanted to play and go home. Just an observation rather than knowledge.

Best keeper ever? Probably hanging myself out here. Of course 16-year-old Danny thought that at the time. But I would put Manuel Neuer, Peter Schmeichel and Buffon up there as competition.

Speaks volumes that we talk about Southall in that company. Everyone rightly talks about that season-defining save at Tottenham. I remember the one against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. How he got to that, I will never know!

I also like the way he uses his hands rather than this modern way of keeping which is to do the splits while sticking a leg out as far as possible. I mean, what are they supposed to do when it hits their outstretched leg and how are they to recover a standing position? It was always a part of keeper training that you could quickly recover an upright position.

As for lining up the wall, I've seen Everton on two or three occasions have the keeper more to one side of the goal while the man on the end of the wall, I think usually Mykolenko, is supposed to turn and sprint back to take up position on the far post before the opposition can take advantage of being played onside. I don't remember any of the two or three times being successful and most notably the Ward-Prouse goal.

Similarly, Pickford could come for more crosses but keepers more often than not rely on their central defenders, particularly if they are good in the air, Labone and West being a good example – albeit I remember Labby giving Bonetti what for in that World Cup game against West Germany for the Seeler goal.

And as for eccentricities, it used to be said that you couldn't be a top-class keeper without them but then you weren't expected to be able to control or trap a ball or have first class distribution – unless of course you could throw it as far as Westy – but probably not with today's balloons that pass for caseys.

His poor distribution doesn't explain why he was so poor at Burnley. With him as first name on the teamsheet, they were getting relegated. It took a brave decision by the manager to demote him to turn things around.

And Alan @53, we have Begovic who is on balance probably a better option than Jordan.

One I've watched and he was bought at a young age by Bayern as a potential successor to Neuer. Still on Bayern's books but loaned out to Monaco, so might be surplus to requirements, although he is still only 26 and Neuer heading into the twilight of his career at 36, so maybe Bayern have been managing that one.

Both came through the Schalke academy too. They have a history of selling, losing or having young players poached by predators!!

Apologies in advance for my Schalke reference. If you think Everton are having a bad season, their return to the Bundesliga is looking like a train crash!! Hoping to get out to see them soon in-between watching Everton.

Hopefully Jordan signs to give us time and some form of insurance in terms of future transfer fees if it happened.

It is of course a matter of personal opinion and it seems not only myself but several former managers disagree with you.

When was the last time that Begovic, who isn't a bad keeper, was more than the reserve keeper at a club – particularly in the Premier League?

I don't like the way Pickford stays in his 6-yard box and doesn't come out and claim catches, and also doesn't catch shots that are straight at him. Maybe that's the modern game and "a safe pair of hands" is no longer the mantra that it was in my day.

He could do worse than watching a few of the great First Division goalies of the '60s and '70s. West, Banks, Clemence, Shilton, Bonetti, Sprake (although not that time he threw the ball into his own net).

I'd keep him though. When he's having a good day, he's great; when he's having a bad one he's a bit better than average.

You list some top keepers there, Eric. Shilton and Clemence. A period when England were spoilt for choice.

Most would need 18 months to settle in.

For example, there's an extremely highly rated young Russian, Safonov, who is out of contract in summer. Or the young Bosnian, Kovacevic, playing in Poland. Both could be exceptional but would not hit the ground running.

Closer to home, there is Kellerher at Liverpool. I expect he'd cost about £20M. That's probably the absolute top end of our budget for a keeper. He's been good in cups playing for a very good side. Whether he can replicate that on a regular basis in the league, hard to say.

I'm not disagreeing with you as I know nothing of the players you name but would there be problems getting work permits, have they as yet represented their senior national teams, or even allow Russians under the present circumstances?

And as you say, would not at the moment be as good as Pickford or possibly have settling problems, such as Kean, or speak the language. And a young, untried keeper from across the park? They'd have us for an arm and a leg.

He's England's No 1 for good reason, he's been a great keeper for us and for England. He's still young and, if we do sell him, we're no longer forced to do so for a pittance.

For all those whining, tell us all: who can we afford that's better?

Liverpool's reserve keeper.

The point I was trying to make is that it will be very difficult to replace Pickford with anyone as good as him. There are talented options out there but they are quite speculative and may take time to settle, if indeed they settle at all.

The other option is to buy someone like Henderson from Man Utd or Nubel who has been mentioned. These are decent mature goalkeepers but they are not in the same league as Pickford. So it is a bit like Richarlison, where we sell and deteriorate in quality as a result.

Caoimhin Kelleher is unproven, and there's no reason that Liverpool would ever sell to us, at a price we can afford.

I could see Liverpool trying to use Kellerher as a way to get Branthwaite. They might sell because they have another good young keeper coming through, Trafford, who has been on loan at Bolton. They could also pick up an older backup on the cheap, as we did with Begovic.

He wouldn't be cheap though for us.

I just hope we don't go for that Russian lad, I Letemin.

He was also weak getting down to low shots and he was found out. Could that explain it? I have only read it as a comment from the time.

When it comes to Number 1s, he has some record at picking them.

This news also came out the same day the I paper said the MSP investment is close. So I wonder if this is all linked.

We ain't getting better than him in summer, not for a small fortune anyway. So this is good news.

We haven't addressed one end of the field and it would have been foolish to try to fix one of the things that isn't broke at the other.

You might be right. By the way, I will be made up if Pickford signs – a very good player. However, I disagree that there are no other options at a decent price.

I don't follow much other football, aside from Everton now, probably because Everton are so poor. However, I don't rate Pickford as high as you and some others do. His decision making is poor and he does little to relieve pressure, electing to punch simple crosses and shots. I rate him on a par with Howard: very good keeper but not great.

If an opportunity arises to get a better keeper in, we should take it.

I always rated Pope highly, but Newcastle got in there. There are loads of keepers whether playing Number 1 or Number 2, old or young out there and I don't believe that upgrades are unavailable.

An example in past was Nigel Martyn. What a keeper! A more recent example was Lampard picking up Mendhy a few years back. He was pretty cheap, I recall, and I thought a huge upgrade on their keeper at the time although he has recently lost form and his place back to whom he replaced. That example shows perhaps it's not as easy as I think but, personally, I don't think it would be too hard to get an upgrade at a reasonable price.

Pope is a very good traditional keeper. However, because of his limited ball control and distribution, he would be of no interest to genuine Champions League clubs – and is less suited to international football (hence Pope doesn't get a look in).

Pickford is in a different league because he plays the position differently. The back pass rule has changed the skill set that is most prized amongst goalkeepers. Southall, Schmeichel, Seaman etc have given way to more footballing keepers like Alisson, Ederson, Neuer and, yes, Pickford.

In some respects, he has been wasted on us. We could have got by with a more limited keeper. But if you want to go up a level, you need a keeper like Pickford.

Derisks us from him running down his contract and probably has clauses to protect him.

Absolute no brainer.

I felt for sure he would be out the door at the end of the season to a ''bigger'' club but those clubs may feel they have the best already. (Ha! ha! after watching the clown mistakes made in the Liverpool - Real Madrid match.)

Picks has had his critics in this column and unfairly so on many occasions but the cynics always blame the keeper when things go wrong but he is still one of the best in England.

He like the rest of us may feel the new gaffer is going to get this club up among the elite again and being a keeper he has time on his side to see that happen (if it does)

Good luck to him and the team.

He's in his prime, and we are a million miles from that level.

Genius, or what?

More seriously, I'm delighted he's signed.

Extraordinary goal by DiMaria for Juve just now.

Good post. I was thinking the exact same thing this morning. Anyone would have "a mistake in him" playing behind the Keane, Holgate combo, behind Yerri when he sits down mid play, or any of our other changing assortment of defenders. But he doesn't have these issues with England as he is playing with better defenders. He is also better able to utilize his long passes, throws etc as he has better players upfield who are more capable of controlling balls and making the best of them. If and when we get better players, I think we will see Pickford as more that just a very good keeper but actually as a top player.

I always think keepers look better in a struggling team anyway. He faces alot of shots in our side.

And Robert #74, Sunderland?

Under normal circumstances ,I would say that hopefully by one of our better players staying, it may encourage a few others to put pen to paper, but hopefully not.

He has always been world class for England, especially in the major tournaments.

I think he's been with a sports shrink and this has helped enormously.

Many keepers carry on improving with experience well into their mid thirties and that makes me want to hang onto him even more.

Some people's digs at Dyche are just plain annoying. I believed a few weeks ago that we were on such a trajectory of shite that nothing could alter our descent into the abyss. Now, at least I see hope and a group with more backbone and a game plan.

"Dycheball" is an unfair fallacy to me. At Burnley he performed brilliantly with what he had and cut his cloth accordingly. Here, he's just starting. Emergency measures are needed.

Let's at least give the guy a chance - and maybe if we survive and he brings his choices into Goodison in a less doomladen time - we might get to see what he's capable of. So far, a lot of common sense, grit and hope.

Interesting final word from Thelwell though: "Since signing him in 2017, our Chairman has built a strong relationship with Jordan and his representatives, and this played a big and important part in us getting this new contract agreed".

Passive aggressive message to the fans? Bill saying "give us a mention Kev"? Just the plain truth and no more?

In truth, my heart sank a little hearing of his new four year deal, as I've been wishing that he and a couple of our below par performers, could be sold and the money used to bring in an experienced keeper, similar to the way we signed an aging Martyn perhaps, but more importantly a centre forward who can actually score goals.

You see it most weeks. I've said it on a few match days, there where times I thought he was going to join us in the crowd at times. Always comes over to us regardless, which personally means a lot. Never far behind Mykolenko. I can't count the amount of pairs of gloves he's given to some young supporter. The kit manager must be going spare!!

Not everyone's cup of tea and like any player, especially keepers, will make mistakes. But he has matured and improved.

He's not the best in commanding his box but he is amongst the best at shot stopping. Quite frankly, we couldn't do much better right now and we have other areas that we need to worry about.

To secure England's goalkeeper is positive on two counts.

It is a statement. We get to keep him and have him make those saves that give me heart stopping moments. And we secure the club gaining financial benefit should we sell him.

Good business by the club in my opinion.

I stated a personal opinion. I'm not asking anyone to agree with me.

Facts can only be based on statistics. So in that sense my argument holds regarding Southall.

How old are you? Did you actually watch Southall week in week out as I did? If so I fail to see how in your opinion (not fact based by the way), that Pickford comes anywhere near Southall in terms of consistent shot stopping, positional sense, ability at collecting crosses, distribution and general bravery.

Goalkeepers have always been sweepers. If not distributing with their feet, then verbally marshalling their defence. I could list a variety of them dating back to Gordon Banks or our own Gordon West when I first supported Everton.

You state it as a fact that Pickford is the best in the UK. How do you back that opinion up? The best keepers play for the teams placed highest in the league...Fact.

Kenwright has always surrounded himself with yes men...and women.

It's how he operates, it's how he survives.

Big Nev is my all-time footballing hero, given that I'm mostly Welsh (with a bit of English/Danish/Norwegian) an Evertonian since I was about 7, and an amateur level goalkeeper myself for many years. I won't hear a word said against the man, but if he played now would he be any good? You just can't tell because keepers now play a different game with different rules and a different skillset.

Pickford is one of the better modern day keepers out there - he may not be the best, but he's definitely one of the better goalkeepers around. You don't play consistently for Everton and England the way he has done if you're no good.

People have always slagged off goalkeepers - it's a thankless task (I was shouted at weekly for years by my own teammates) in the same way running the line is on a Sunday morning. All players make mistakes, but if you cock something up in midfield, by & large you get away with it - when the keeper arses things up it's the end of the world so you always get grief and nobody appreciates you fully.

Yes, I'm now wearing my goalkeepers union hat!

Yes and you're entitled to your opinion but remember it is just that and may have no basis in fact. As you offer nothing to back your opinion up, it actually has no value at all.

Opinions are not sacrosanct and can be and often are pushing the realms of the ridiculous. I didn't say that Pickford was as good as or better than Southall as I said they are not playing the same game but I saw Southall all of his time at Everton and Pickford too. I class them both as superb and equals given the way that the game has moved forward and changed.

Where are those statistics by the way? I don't accept your comment about goalies having always been sweepers, as they have to be today, there isn't a comparison in duties.

How do I back up that he's best in the UK? Possibly, just possibly, something to do with him being first choice?

"The best keepers are at the top of the league, fact?" What a load of unsubstantiated cobblers.

Come on, give our players credit where it's due and stop trying to big yourself up by demeaning them.

Anyway, I asked you to explain Pickford's weaknesses and explain your bizarre contention that he is anything other than superb. Opinions need to have a basis. Pickford not being superb has none.

I not only saw Southall but Banks and Gordon West too.

Here's a fact for you, he went down with Sunderland. There's every chance he'll do the same with us.

Every great team has a great goalkeeper, fact. He's had every chance to prove himself and for me falls short, even though I readily admitted, there has been improvement in his game. His England performances are judged mainly on a few penalty saves and have little relevance, it's the Premier League that finds players out. That is merely my opinion.

You would do well to understand the difference between fact and opinion.

If he was a great keeper, then some great team would have well been in for him by now. That's why he's been only too keen to pen this deal. Don't kid yourself otherwise.

He rarely steals us a game, has good reactions but is not a particularly good shot stopper from distance, he never commands his box by claiming crosses because he’s not big enough. All of this affects the defence because he doesn’t relieve pressure and forces them deeper.

No one else made a serious move for him despite at least three of the big 6 needing a new keeper. That speaks volumes as well as opposition supporters being underwhelmed by the thought of signing him.

He owes a lot to Southgate because if it wasn’t for him he probably wouldn’t even make the England squad. That’s just my opinion by the way.

So yeah let’s be bummed about him sugning. It’s not like that improves our negotiations or sets the basis for a return to European football competitions. Who needs that crap.

Sure Ramsdale and Pope joined high flying Arsenal and Newcastle respectively. Do you not think the likes of Spurs would sign Pickford given the chance?

Pickford certainly isn’t top top notch but he’s pretty good. And replacing him is not our first priority. He’s certainly nowhere Southall at his peak but, as others have stated, different times, different criteria.

Sure Ramsdale and Pope joined high flying Arsenal and Newcastle respectively. Do you not think the likes of Spurs would sign Pickford given the chance?

Pickford certainly isn’t top top notch but he’s pretty good. And replacing him is not our first priority. He’s certainly nowhere Southall at his peak but, as others have stated, different times, different criteria.

Are you having trouble on an Iphone? On mine if I go to ToffeeWeb homepage it immediately redirects me to a pop up and closes TW. I have to click comments or some other tab really quickly to prevent it from redirecting.

Cheers. I was thinking it was just my phone

I was getting flak for not stating facts, so I simply stated one, re his relegation with Sunderland.

I really don't want to dwell on Pickford's merits or failings. I believe hed be easily replaced. The fact is he's one of our few sellable assets. The money could be spent on our main priority, a striker.

Yes the game has changed since the 80's for keepers mainly with the no back passing rule. But I've no doubt Southall would be every bit as good today as back then.

Lyndon and Michael, complaint rescinded. Dont go slogging code for just a handful of us. I don’t know about the others but I am a retarded yank so this is what I get for trying to hang out with the cool Scouser kids. Keep it going!

Lucky for all us plebs that Kenwright was here to ensure Pickford signed a new contract. Phew!

Agreed, we would obviously have to sign a new keeper, but we would have cash to spare with Pickford's sale, plus the Gordon money, plus money from Juventus in the summer for Kean.

That total amount would get us a decent striker surely?

As for the quote press release in Nick's #124 post, that is just hogwash. What do they say about praise – 'self praise is no praise'.

He made 2 or 3 worldies in the home game against Liverpool this season. His distribution is at least as good, if not better than anyone else in the Premier League. He is the undisputed England keeper, never made a mistake for them.

The other top keepers around the league have all dropped massive bollocks recently: Alisson, Pope, Ramsdale, etc. He is better than any of them.

So we have either got the best keeper around to re-sign for us long-term, or we can sell him for top dollar if the worst happens.

Take your pick: thanks for leaving, Frank… or thanks for slapping some sense into them, Sean.

Yes ,we may have money to buy a decent striker, but they don't save goals, come to think of it, most of them do not score either, depends on who is supplying them.

You still will have to buy a decent keeper and they don't come cheap, when clubs know you need them.

Take 2 steps back, Bill, and think about your statement.

Using that philosophy, the best you could hope for are 0-0 draws.

20+ goals per season?

15+ goals per season?

10+ goals per season?

Looking at the top scorers across Europe its dominated by strikers like Kane etc who are well beyond us. Look at the tier below...

Ivan Toney has 14 in 21 games in a side that has patiently developed an attacking style around him and Mbeumo. Probably would cost £60m+ so out of our price range by some distance.

Ollie Watkins (Toney's predecessor at Brentford) has 7 in 22 and cost €34m 3 years ago. Would he leave Villa for us? And at what cost?

Maybe Jonathan David at Lille. He's got 15 in 23 but he's a short arse. Wouldn't suit Dyche. And cost Lille €27m 3 years ago.

Or maybe Folarin Balogun who has 16 in 25 for Reims on loan from Arsenal. He'd be about £20m+ but only scored 3 in 21 for Middlesbrough last season. Is he any good?

The reality is that it is exceptionally difficult to just buy a player who will get even 10+ goals in the Premier League. These players can be developed with patience, like Toney, but will generally not hit the ground running.

€80m Nunez has only 6 in 17 for the RS. He'll come good though unfortunately because he's a huge talent. But that was €80m!

It's much more likely that we'd sign someone like Gyökeres for about £20m and, because he's not amazing, he'd get between 8 and 12 goals. That would be his limit though. He's not going to improve.

Or we could get someone like young Wahi from Montpellier for the same price but he might get about 6 goals in his first season, but show the ability to get about 15 to 20 goals in time.

This is the market we're playing in due to our finances. Selling Pickford (like selling Richarlison) could very easily result in us becoming much worse.

I take your point regarding strikers, it's fair comment. But surely you're not suggesting that we don't need a striker? So it's up to our scouting system to scour the world of football and come up with goods. That's what they're paid for.

And so far, sell to buy has only resulted in a continuous steady decline for us.

A keeper, realistically, should only be sold if you already have the replacement in the squad. If you sell a keeper and then go into the market, any target will have their fee inflated as you're in a much weaker bargaining position. And it's not like we'd be an attractive move for any player either.

In terms of striking options, it's always a gamble – Newcastle spent £60M on Isak and he's been injured all season. Edouard at Palace was much talked about on here as someone we should target but he's not prolific in the slightest. Mitrovic has taken years to eventually become an effective Premier League striker. Armstrong was banging them in in the Championship but is out of his depth in the Premier League.

So any striker we get is going to be a risk - either a foreign import who may or may not settle or may need a long time to adapt, a punt from a lower division with the same issues, or an 'experienced' player past their best.

So we absolutely need to keep our best players like Pickford and hope for steady and intelligent moves for the rest of the squad.

We can probably get away with making do in other areas.

But in my view we should get someone young of genuine talent (like Almeria did when buying Nunez for €15M after an excellent showing in the World Youth Cup) and accept we may need to make do with Simms, Maupay and a not always fit Calvert-Lewin while that new guy beds in. It doesn't need to be foreign. It could be the likes of young Hugill at Man Utd if they'd be prepared to sell him.

With someone like that, we have to accept a meagre return initially. But like Brentford also showed with Toney, the patience can be rewarded.

Still, whatever, I would like to see happen it's very likely we'll sign Gyökeres.

Or if you sacrifice to a poorer keeper for a decent striker we could end up loosing 4--3.

The thing I notice about the premier, is the top six are always looking to strengthen their Keeper. I agree with we need a new striker but, I don't see the sense in strengthening 1 position by weakening an essential defensive position. We will not be that short of money for a new striker, finding one who will want to come is different.

What I notice about the Top 6 is that they have miles more money than everyone else. They strengthen every position, and every reserve position too.

If you pieced together our very best XI from the entire Premier League era, it would struggle to get in this season's Top 4.

It's probably good news that our very good keeper is (probably) staying but it will have an impact on our transfer kitty.

Personally, I think we'll be very short of money to rebuild in summer unless MSP invest heavily. Hopefully they do. But if we don't get that sort of investment, it wouldn't surprise me if we spend no more than about £25M in total (increased if we sell Branthwaite).

That buys one Gyökeres, a free transfer and maybe someone else for about £8M.

Dyche likes to build on solid foundations so getting the keeper sorted was a no-brainer for him, I guess.

Stop wishing away our best players. It's what has got us in this mess in the first place.

For years, Nev was in a superb Everton team while, for years, Jordan has been behind a tragically poor team that had the ball coming back to him from outfield like greased lightning. Pickford's distribution, which often involves 70-m passes, is for me unequalled in the Premier League. His domination of the area is exceptional and his shot-stopping second to none.

He flaps? All good goalies flap and that is because they are on a knife edge having to change direction and tactics like no other players have to.

He is a great keeper and I'm really glad he's staying. I'd say that I have seen him make one genuinely bad mistake rather than what his detractors would mark down as a mistake and that was the goal at Anfield. Otherwise, he has effectively kept us out of the Championship.

I still don't think he's as good as many on here do and I'm not convinced his contributions would be so hard to replace but it's good he's signed a new contract and some stability in a key position is helpful.

It's perhaps even a little less than might be expected considering the earlier rumour that a figure of £200k pw is what supposedly caused the deal to stall. We can never know the truth when it comes to players' wages but there must be little doubt that, if he were to move to one of the Big 6, he could well command such a level of remuneration.

Can't say I feel a huge amount of love and affection for him personally but, if this stuff is even half-true, it suggests that there's at least a substantial element of club loyalty in his decision that I respect and appreciate.

Do it for us, Jordan!

Your last paragraph sums up the way I feel about Pickford, a good goalkeeper and a very good shot stopper but with two or three flaws to go with them.

It would be interesting to see which clubs come in for him if he ever went on the transfer market but he seems to have done Everton a favour by agreeing a new contract when it was possible he might have got a lot more financially at the end of next season by not signing a new deal.

It isn't a video game, you're talking about human beings with lives, feelings & families to consider. When you look back at players like Lukaku vs what we have now, you have to wonder whether these people will ever be happy. The criticism is exactly the same whether we're 6th or 16th.

Evertonians are passionate of course, but they're also extremely critical - you hear it in the ground, and you read it on here. It's part of the negative culture that's unfortunately fostered at the club for the past 30 years (maybe it was always there, but I only started going to Everton games in the late 80's).

As Martin points out - there's often a lot of criticism of players, but rarely any justification other than 'opinion'.

I think perhaps there's more shades of grey on this opinion-versus-fact spectrum.

In-between, there's things like "conclusions based on inference" and "suspicions based on rumours" – which for me leaves 'opinions' right at the end of the spectrum, often lacking any rational basis but just developed internally as an expression of how we feel.

This might be what helps differentiate us from ChatGPT…

[Uh-oh, I may have just inadvertently opened the floodgates to AI-generated posts swamping ToffeeWeb and crashing the server!!!]

Would you agree that some fans over hype some players, blow them up and are blind to their faults the same as some of us highlight their faults, sometimes going overboard but sometimes with constructive criticism?

From 3-00pm until 5-00pm today I hope we all get behind the team and we are celebrating another win at the end of the game although I know before I go to the game I will be cursing a couple of players for lack of I what see as lack of commitment and effort, I hope they prove me wrong today.

Overall, the reaction of an Everton fan to Pickford's contract extension would likely depend on their individual opinion of the player and his performances. Some might see it as a positive move that secures the club's future, while others might have concerns about the high salary and Pickford's inconsistency.

Hmmm... ChatGPT may have been reading this thread already!

An apt description of opinions that I once read and please excuse the language but it's Opinions are like kids and farts, OK if they are your own.

I think you've just revealed to us in a nutshell exactly why you have no respect for anybody else's opinion except your own.

Thank you.

Yeah that's a fair point - obviously none of us follow other teams as closely as we do Everton so it could well be the same at all clubs. Maybe that's just the thought process of all football fans.

Great that he's signed. I suspect the club is keeping its options open - new contracts are often about protecting the value of a sellable asset as much as keeping the player.

It’s obvious Pickford is better than most goalkeepers with the ball at his feet, but this can sometimes interfere with the way the team play, when our goalkeeper thinks he’s the playmaker!

I haven’t noticed the excellence of him dominating the penalty area to be honest, when did that start?

This theory that a keeper has to carry out a wider range of passing than a right back is utter bullshit. All we want him to do is kick it up the pitch and it to stay in the field of play.

I like Pickford and I’m happy he’s signed a new contract, but I don’t know how anyone can defend his distribution. It’s shite.