According to the Daily Star, Jordan Pickford may have an uncertain future at Everton, as Carlo Ancelotti is considering replacing the out-of-form 26-year-old this summer. Pickford has struggled for consistency over the last 12 months and could be made available for sale. It remains to be seen where he’d go, however, and who may replace him.
What went wrong?
Pickford has made 129 appearances in all competitions since joining from Sunderland for £25.65m in 2017, conceding 181 goals and keeping 27 clean sheets. He conceded 58 goals from 38 Premier League games in 2017/18, 46 goals from 38 Premier League games in 2018/19 and 56 goals from 38 Premier League games in 2019/20.
Last season, he had his worst return for clean sheets (9) and was guilty of making errors leading to goals. As per WhoScored, Pickford faced 162 shots on target in the Premier League, so he’s conceding from every third attempt at goal – nearly 33% of the efforts. It’s not an impressive statistic and likely why Ancelotti wants to move him on.
How much could Pickford fetch?
We aren’t in any rush to sell Pickford as there are still four years left on his contract still, But after paying £25m and agreeing a contract worth £5.2m-a-year/£100k-a-week, we’d need to sell the England international for £40m to get our money back.
It’s hard to see a suitor paying so much for a goalkeeper in poor form, given there are only two stoppers in history that have been transferred for more money in Kepa Arrizabalaga (£72m to Chelsea) and Alisson (£56m to Liverpool), so Marcel Brands might struggle finding interest this summer.
Who will replace him?
The Sun said in January that Ancelotti and Brands were on the hunt for a shot-stopper to oust Pickford in goal, but the pair didn’t have any success landing one. Everton have since been linked with Salvatore Sirigu from Torino, Gianluigi Donnarumma from AC Milan, Sergio Romero from Manchester United. Lucas Perri from Sao Paulo and Marco Silvestri from Hellas Verona, but the 2020/21 season begins in only four weeks, so time is fast running out.
Everton won’t want to go into pre-season for the upcoming campaign without a first-choice goalkeeper identified, so we need to move quickly this summer. Time will tell if we bring in another goalkeeper, because we’d have to sell Pickford as he wouldn’t want to sit on the bench for a season.
In other news, Everton are considering a move for a former Chelsea defender