Jordan Pickford has been explaining the role he played in Jack Grealish's season-long loan move from Manchester City to Everton
Jordan Pickford and Jack Grealish share a joke at the end of the match between England and Finland at Wembley Stadium on September 10, 2024
Jordan Pickford and Jack Grealish share a joke at the end of the match between England and Finland at Wembley Stadium on September 10, 2024
(Image: Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images)
Jordan Pickford has explained his role in helping to bring pal Jack Grealish to Everton and has backed his England team-mate to “excel” in a royal blue jersey.
Everton had been linked with a move for the first £100million English footballer all summer before announcing a season-long loan switch for the 29-year-old on August 12. Lifelong Evertonian Alan Stubbs, who served as David Moyes’ captain during the Scot’s first spell at Goodison Park revealed he had put on the charm offensive by trying to persuade Grealish to sign for the Blues while the pair were both on holiday in Marbella, but it turns out he was far from alone.
Pickford said: “I am good friends with Jack and when I heard the rumour, I sent a couple of messages to him. He asked a couple of questions, what the club is like, what it is like around the place, and I said if you come you will love it.
“I said the place is brilliant, the lads are great, the staff. People say it is ‘The People’s Club’ and it is a proper home club.
“Everyone knows what type of character Jack is. He comes in and lights the place up, you should see him in training, his levels, he is a top, top player and to get him at Everton, I think it is a massive thing for Everton Football Club.
“For someone like Jack Grealish to sign for Everton it shows the ambition and what the owners want, which is success. To bring him and Kiernan (Dewsbury-Hall) as well, it’s high level.”
Asked what he wrote to Grealish in his text message, Pickford said: “Hurry up you!
“In this football world anything can happen. I had a couple of conversations with him and then I saw a tweet, so I just rang him.
“I was on the golf course and said: ‘When are you coming?’ He said it was pretty much all done.
“I was like: ‘That’s a box ticked.’”
Pickford believes that Grealish – who will be targeting a place in England’s World Cup squad next summer – will be determined to show he can replicate the levels he showed during his pomp at the Etihad Stadium having gone from being Manchester City’s record signing to surplus to requirements under Pep Guardiola. He said: “I just look at him when City won the Treble, how good he was.
“He had a couple of injuries and momentum shifted. I know how much Jack loves football and all he will want to do is get on the pitch and show people how good he is.
“When he won the treble, he played the majority of the games. I saw a clip the other day when City played Liverpool and he was chasing Salah back and he stopped a goal.
“You see his quality on the ball, but you see stuff like that, and it shows what it means to him at both ends of the pitch. Working hard on and off the ball.
“There is a World Cup next year and if he plays here … I think everyone knows he is going to excel here and play the games.
“He has a stature and he is always smiling. He just wants to be on the training ground and on the pitch, he just loves football.”
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in front of flag displays for the first Premier League game at Hill Dickinson Stadium
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in front of flag displays for the first Premier League game at Hill Dickinson Stadium
Pickford is now starting his ninth season at Everton, but has yet to play in European competition with the Blues since his inaugural 2017/18 campaign at Goodison Park, so does he believe that acquisitions like Grealish can prove game-changers in that respect for a club who have been battling against relegation in recent seasons? He said: “Of course, yeah.
“Kiernan (Dewsbury-Hall) won the Conference League with Chelsea, and the Club World Cup. So, we’ve got lads coming in who have won titles, won leagues, won in Europe.
“They're going to strive, they're going to push and they're going to show their levels, and we've got to follow. There have to be leaders.
“Everyone's got to be leading in their own way, we’ve got vocal leaders, and we've got people who will lead in different ways. Everyone’s got to push each other to strive to be the best version of Everton and the badge we can be.
“The ambition from the club is there for Europe. I've had that ambition since I came here.
“Everyone wants to play European football, but everything that has gone on with Everton up above over the last few years means we’ve never really had that ability to push higher up the league to get that European football. Hopefully this year is a good year.
“We're not going to say we're going to get into Europe this season, but we've got ambitions to be up that top half of the table where Everton Football club should be. It's about us performing week in, week out and wherever that takes us it takes us.”