Season › 2024-25 › News Everton sign goalkeeper Tom King from Wolves Michael Kenrick 15/08/2025 48comments | Jump to last Everton have signed goalkeeper Tom King from Wolves to provide additional experienced cover for Jordan Pickford, after having lost both Jao Virginia and Asmir Begovic in the summer. The 30-year-old goalkeeper has done the rounds of lower-league clubs as he built his career at Millwall, Newport County, Salford City, and Northampton Town before spending the past two seasons at Wolves where he made his Premier League debut last May against Brentford, his only game in the top flight. While at Milwall for 5 seasons, he was loaned out to Welling United, Braintree Town, Stevenage and Wimbledon. He racked up the most appearances for Salford City. In 64 matches between 2021 and 2023, he kept 26 clean sheets for the Manchester-based outfit. King becomes the seventh signing of the summer for the Toffees, who had earlier brought in Mark Travers from Bournemouth to provide competition to Jordan Pickford in goal. This could mean that the future for Harry Tyrer will be away from Everton, either through loan or transfer. Reader Comments (48) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer () Jack Convery 1 Posted 15/08/2025 at 17:30:34 Transfer Market have Tom King valued at £200,000. That's 2 thirds of Jack's weekly wage. He is 30, has 1 Welsh Cap and stands at 1.94m. He's played for 9 teams, not counting spells as a youth player with Man Utd and Crystal Palace. He's made 1 Premier League appearance and his most appearances were for Salford - 64 games. He has played more games in League Two, than any other division / competition - 123 games. In total he has played 222 games. He is very much a 3rd choice keeper. No doubt this will mean Harry Tyrer either being sold or loaned out. Billy Shears 2 Posted 15/08/2025 at 17:51:35 A Goalie... really?We need a right back,right winger (2), central midfielder & an experienced striker too! Colin Glassar 3 Posted 15/08/2025 at 18:25:39 More goalies to sit on the bench? Brilliant!!! Mike Gaynes 4 Posted 15/08/2025 at 18:31:31 Colin, we don't need three keepers?Simon, two major signings in 7 days (and one minor one) is how you define "things grind to a halt"??? I think you've locked up Odd Post Of The Day and it's only dinnertime. Gareth Price 5 Posted 15/08/2025 at 18:32:32 Good to see the recruitment team have a grasp of the issues in the first XI… Martin Farrington 6 Posted 15/08/2025 at 18:33:32 Well said everyone. We have bought a goalie, why do we need yet another??? Our academy keepers (U21) must be really disheartened. We have at least 3 of them. There was one called Pickford (no relation), I don't know what happened to him. Typical Everton. Don't fill the desperately needed positions. But waste money on places we just don't need. And if I am correct, there is an exemption in the rules for keepers. So if Pickford gets a long-term injury, the club are allowed to go loan one on top of the squad they have. Bloody pay for Dibling and some defenders at right- and left-back. Muppets! Colin Glassar 7 Posted 15/08/2025 at 18:37:49 Mike,We probably do need 3 goalies (1 to sit on the bench) but we are screaming out for a right-back and a right-winger. Many of us are frustrated because this has been a problem for years now and is not, apparently, being solved. We should've kept Begovic. Mike Gaynes 8 Posted 15/08/2025 at 18:52:38 Colin, I'm sure those two problems are being worked on, and remember, it hasn't been a years-long problem for this recruitment team -- they just started. As for Begovic, apparently Moyes shares my opinion of him... not good enough to count on. I used to call him Bungles Begovic, although I will readily concede he has done well with us. Martin, George Pickford is only 17, so I don't think he's had time to get disappointed. And as for Jordan's possible heir apparent, do you think Tyrer would rather have a loan back to League One, where he played 38 superb games last season, or sit on the bench and watch Pickford?As Jack says, King's signing is Tyrer's ticket to a full season of action -- which a young keeper desperately needs. Kevin Prytherch 9 Posted 15/08/2025 at 18:54:10 Harry Tryer needs a loan to a Championship club at minimum. Hes about 22 now and should be pushing Pickford very soon.Its better for us, and Tryer, if he spends a year in the Championship rather than being 3rd choice. Ryan Holroyd 10 Posted 15/08/2025 at 19:00:10 Tryer will be sold I think. He needs to go and play elsewhere. He wont be a first-choice goalkeeper for a Premier League team. Douglass Lukjanciks will be the one if any of the goalkeepers makes it out of the Academy. Ian Pilkington 11 Posted 15/08/2025 at 19:52:16 What a complete waste of money.Tyrer looked competent in the friendly at Accrington; if he returns on loan to Blackpool, I'm fairly sure that he could be recalled if there was an injury crisis.I still don't understand why Virginia was released. Ray Roche 12 Posted 15/08/2025 at 19:55:30 Ian, I think Virginia was too good to waste his career on our bench. I would think that he probably wanted to go. Liam Mogan 13 Posted 15/08/2025 at 21:25:59 Good bit of business this. Now we can have 2 keepers on the bench every week again Annika Herbert 14 Posted 15/08/2025 at 21:54:26 Great, yet another keeper… just what we needed.So it's 2 keepers on the bench at Elland Road then? We certainly don't have any problem getting very average keepers over the line. Dave Abrahams 15 Posted 15/08/2025 at 22:15:10 How much did they pay for him? Hard to understand another keeper coming in dont they trust Travers ? Dennis Stevens 16 Posted 15/08/2025 at 22:17:32 I presume Tyrer will go back out on loan Neil Lawson 17 Posted 15/08/2025 at 22:43:08 3rd keeper for a PL team has to be about the best job in the world. You turn up to training, go home at lunchtime and watch Escape to the County and Pointless, you never actually play but you probably get paid 5k a week or more. Seriously tough life but Tom King has to do it. Hope he copes. Craig Scott 18 Posted 15/08/2025 at 23:03:29 This guy and Travers will be included by Moyes and the recruitment team as delivering on the 5 or 6 more replacements they promised to get.I think there were three or four new caterers brought in at Finch farm as well that might also be included in the numbers. Sean Kearns 19 Posted 15/08/2025 at 23:08:26 Moyes seen enough of Travers in a couple of games to say HELL NO!! 😂 me too though. He punched the ball into his own head for the west ham goal ffs. He looked awful and the Bournmouth fans used to say the same thing. Can King be number 2 please? And Ive never even seen him play. Josh Horne 20 Posted 15/08/2025 at 23:12:26 Wow, not exactly the red carpet treatment for this lad.Welcome to this great club Tom. Mike Gaynes 21 Posted 15/08/2025 at 23:25:23 Finally, a decent beard in the squad to replace Andre Gomes. Kieran Kinsella 22 Posted 15/08/2025 at 23:27:24 The big one weve been waiting for. About time. Welcome Mr King COYB Paul Kossoff 23 Posted 15/08/2025 at 23:39:43 We have lost a big part of our first team from last season, have we improved the squad from the players brought in to replace them?Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Ashley Young, Joao Virginia, Asmir Begovic, Mason Holgate and Neal Maupay, with loanees Jack Harrison, Jesper Lindstrøm, Orel Mangala and Armando Broja all left... Do you think the squad is stronger or weaker now? Scott Hamilton 24 Posted 15/08/2025 at 23:41:06 Welcome, Tom.We really need you as that bench aint gonna warm itself. Robert Tressell 25 Posted 16/08/2025 at 08:22:38 Tyrer will never be pushing Pickford. The eventual replacement for Pickford will be a similar profile player – an outstanding international goalkeeper. Virginia left us to go home to Portugal.Tyrer has hit a point now where he's probably best off leaving for a nominal fee and challenging himself to get back in the Premier League, like Broadhead and others have done. Sam Hoare 26 Posted 16/08/2025 at 08:39:58 Really dont understand the issues here. He will have cost next to nothing, his recruitment will in no way have affected the search for a RW and he will most likely never feature.A 3rd choice GK basically never plays so its almost like having another coach or support staff. King by all accounts is a brilliant dressing room character to such a degree that Pereira got him to give the team talk before their win over Leicester in April. Sensible, unexciting addition. Martin Reppion 27 Posted 16/08/2025 at 08:47:30 What Chris #27 said...Glad I read that. Saved me a lot of typing.So many of the posters on here think we are slacking because we haven't just gone out and bought a dream team. Isak, Eze etc. Get real people. We have a limited budget. This one cost us nowt and allows the younger guys to go and learn their trade.Meanwhile, by the end of the transfer window, we will, hopefully, have found a right side we can afford, that won't result in points deductions and bankruptcy in 2 years time.If, on the other hand, you all have £50m to give to the club to pay Southampton for a 19-year-old whose total contribution last season was less than Beto's, then I will apologise and let you go and spend your money for the common good. Colin Glassar 28 Posted 16/08/2025 at 08:48:50 If we're collecting goalies again, why don't we go in for Donarumma? He'd look good on our bench! Justin Doone 29 Posted 16/08/2025 at 08:57:32 King for a day, dethroned to have a bench warming career. Welcome to Everton. I just find it odd that a 30-year-old doesn't want to play regular games. He'd rather take the money just to train. That's modern football, how sad. But for him, an easy life. Fair play, I only wish I could have been so lucky to have been an Everton squad member. James Marshall 30 Posted 16/08/2025 at 09:29:49 As an ex-goalkeeper I feel as though I have an understanding of this type of signing better than most - there are a lot of posts on here slating the club for buying an experienced, older 3rd choice keeper but there are good reasons for this signing. And it IS the right thing to do in my view.It has nothing to do with just coming for a payday.The life of a goalkeeper can be a solitary one in more ways than one - not only is the position a solitary one by nature, but the life of a goalkeeper can often be quite solitary mentally as well.There's a good reason they joke about 'keepers being a bit mad.Older, 3rd choice 'keepers are not signed because they're likely to ever play for the first team, that's not their role at all. There could be a very rare occasion where say Pickford is injured, and then Travers also gets injured, so King might get a game - but that's obviously extremely unlikely. 3rd choice 'keepers are there to impart knowledge and experience on the goalkeeping group, and in particular younger players, whilst also being there in the unlikely event I've just described.If you don't believe me, there's an article I'll post here which also explains similarly to what I've described. If you get bored (us goalkeepers are good at not getting bored, it's one of the reasons we became goalkeepers - along with way less running about) skip to near the bottom for the part about being an older, experienced 3rd choice 'keeper.Honestly, some of the replies on TW are very knee-jerk and ill-informed. And I say this without malice.Link Rob Hooton 31 Posted 16/08/2025 at 10:01:21 Thanks James, a decent article and comment.Welcome Tom, hope you enjoy your time here and help the other keepers out. Derek Knox 32 Posted 16/08/2025 at 10:33:35 His brother Wan, gave it a one thumb up appointment, other hand busy ! :-) Alan J Thompson 33 Posted 16/08/2025 at 11:24:26 I don't know why Virginia didn't want to stay but I can't help thinking that instead of signing Travers we could have offered Virginia another 10 grand a week for 3 years and been 2.5M better off. And other than experience, is sending a keeper out on loan for a regular game in a lower League any better than signing lower League older keepers? Dave Abrahams 34 Posted 16/08/2025 at 11:44:44 James (30), Thanks for that very interesting link, I think with some of those goalkeepers the main reason they took up the position of second or third goalkeeper is money, definitely with being third goalkeeper. I mean our former goalie Wright being on Man. Citys books for four straight years without playing once, Liverpool had a good goalie who won two Eurpean Cup medals without playing hardly any games for them, he did mention though that the £1,000 a week he was on couldnt be sniffed at, he went on to have a very good career with Middlesbrough and Fulham if Im not mistaken, he came from the South End of Liverpool —Ward(?).Phycological it might do them good— stop them from going completely round the bend but I think the wages have a lot to do with it especially when they are getting on a bit! Andrew Merrick 35 Posted 16/08/2025 at 14:32:32 Couldn't we just have loaned Tyrer with a recall option? Robert Tressell 36 Posted 16/08/2025 at 14:45:39 We could have done that Alan but wed have ended up saving a minute amount of money to keep a markedly inferior goalkeeper. David Cooper 37 Posted 16/08/2025 at 16:41:16 Dare we question Davey Moyes? Achieved so much in a short space of time only a few months ago and now maybe facing an even bigger challenge of turning BMD into Goodison 2.0?My reading of Moyes is that "It's my way or the highway and, if you don't like it, tough!" As we wait for Monday night, I'm not sure of what to expect, there are a few questions or decisions that might not quite work out:1. Will we be more effective without Doucoure?2. Is Calvert-Lewin better than Beto, Barry and Chermiti and should we have kept him?3. Would Richarlison prove to have been a better bet than any of the 3 mentioned above.4. Is Grealish a gamble?5. Is Branthwaite going to be troubled throughout the season with muscle injuries?Five is enough to be starting with but there are several others that are just as pressing. COYB in HD at BMD! Alan J Thompson 38 Posted 17/08/2025 at 07:43:12 Robert (#36); I don't know how good these two keepers we've signed are as I've seen nothing of Wolves and Bournemouth reserves — and I suppose points docking for losses of £105M over 3 years is nothing either. Danny O'Neill 39 Posted 17/08/2025 at 07:57:23 David @37,I don't think many, including initially resistant fans like myself, are questioning what Moyes delivered after returning. He's now got the opportunity to deliver the consistency over a full season. We all hope he does.In answer to your questions (personal view):1. Probably.2. No. It was time to say goodbye. For the player and the club.3. Possibly, but let's see how he goes this season. It's off the cards now, so not really worth thinking about too much.4. I don't think so. Any transfer or loan is a gamble.5. Who knows? It's football. Would Mykolenko have gone down with a groin strain in a pre-season? You can't predict.Alan @38. I don't either other than Travers has made about 70 appearances for Bournemouth. No idea about King. Geoff Cadman 40 Posted 17/08/2025 at 08:54:56 Maybe Moyes is thinking back to when he used 5 different goalkeepers in 5 consecutive Premier League games. Grant Rorrison 41 Posted 17/08/2025 at 09:07:03 Anyone know thinks Richarlison isn't better than Beto, Barry or Calvert-Lewin should watch his performance yesterday for Spurs. Eric Myles 42 Posted 17/08/2025 at 09:46:42 Colin #28, exactly what I was thinking! Colin Glassar 43 Posted 17/08/2025 at 09:57:59 Great minds and all that, Eric. Chris Jenkins 44 Posted 17/08/2025 at 16:16:12 Alan# 33-I was also rather mystified as to why the club did not go down the route of exercising its option to extend Joao Virginia's contract for a further year and to offer him more attractive terms.You may not have viewed it but there is quite an interesting video of Joao being interviewed on Youtube entitled "Everton's Unsung Hero- Joao Virginia Opens Upon Pressure, Patience & More - it's around 55mins duration and was, I understand, filmed in April of this year.At around 17mins in he mentions he was very proud to represent Portugal at a junior level and would like to represent the senior team some day. At around 42mins 20 he emphasises he wants to play regular club football but that he will stay for another year if the club want to exercise its option to renew. At 46mins he reiterates that he wants to represent his country.Possibly by June he had taken the view that he was unlikely to have regular first team football with Everton in the near future unless Pickford was injured for any length of time ?I think we have lost a very competent goalkeeper. Robert #36What evidence do you have for describing Virginia as a markedly inferior goalkeeper ? Robert Tressell 45 Posted 17/08/2025 at 16:54:53 Chris # 44, Joao Virginia is 25 years old and has played 1 game of Premier League football. Beyond that a failed loan for a crap club in the Eredivisie, a failed loan for Sporting and a handful of games on loan for Reading. And youre asking me what makes him better than an international GK with 100 Prem and Championship games under his belt. I find it amazing that fans get so emotionally attached to players on our books who demonstrate absolutely no ability whatsoever - maybe a cameo pre season, a few extremely low standard u21 games etc or low league opposition in early round of the cup etc. We are not Fleetwood or Bolton. We need to seriously raise the quality of the playing squad and lose the sentimentality. I just dont get why anyone gives a monkeys about letting Joao Virginia go and getting a proper reserve GK in for peanuts. Alan J Thompson 46 Posted 18/08/2025 at 06:20:58 Robert(#45); Let's use your criteria then.King has been on loan to Millwall, Newport, Salford(?!?), and Northampton and played one (1) Premier League game for Wolves. It seems he's also been on loan to Welling Utd, Braintree, Stevenage and Wimbledon. Does that sound anymore failed than Virginia?Travers, after a loan to Swindon had one season as Bournemouth's No.1 and then loaned out to Stoke before a loan keeper was brought in from Chelsea. Somewhere in there was also a short loan to Middlesborough.Fleetwood and Bolton would not be out of place among either of those lists and I find it amazing that fans so quickly settle for mediocrity even if they will only get a game owing to injury or a League Cup game against teams of the quality similar to those they have been on loan to but not signed there permanently.Having said that I hope they don't get called on owing to injury to Pickford but do well should it come to that but are they really any better than Virginia who at least has ambition or the aging Begovic. Still what's a few million to a club serially in debt. Robert Tressell 47 Posted 18/08/2025 at 08:37:44 Alan # 46, King isnt the replacement for Virginia. Hes been brought in as emergency back up and as part of the pseudo goalkeeping staff. For a nominal amount of money. And if Virginia was so ambitious - why has he wasted his career to age 25 playing second fiddle and basically never playing - and then moved on to a club where he will once again be playing second fiddle? That sounds like the opposite of ambition. And yet you describe buying an international goalkeeper as mediocrity in comparison? I dont get it. Alan J Thompson 48 Posted 18/08/2025 at 16:03:23 Robert(#47); Obviously, Robert, but where did you see somebody from the club state he is part of a "pseudo goalkeeping staff" I've not read that anywhere but it appears that in his interview Virginia states that he wants to play 1st team football and that he would like to play for his country as he did at junior level and 25 is not exactly old for a keeper, so hardly a wasted career but where have you seen for which club he has now signed? And if he's not Virginia's or Begovic's replacement he is hardly Pickford's replacement nor an old man at 30.Sorry, Robert, but you seem to be using a double standard. Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. How to get rid of these ads and support TW © ToffeeWeb