Everton wonderkid George Pickford has made a superb start out on loan at Southport.
The man born in Preston made several fantastic saves on his debut against Hereford last week, helping Southport to a 5-1 win in the National League.
George Pickford then kept his first clean sheet in professional football on Tuesday night in the 0-0 draw against Buxton, receiving praise from his boss Neil Danns which will surely fill Everton with pride.
Does David Moyes need to put more trust in Everton’s academy players? 😤
Surely some of these players can do better than Beto and Dwight McNeil! 😡
Everton striker Braiden Graham. Everton manager David Moyes.
Credit: Getty Images/Andrew Kearns – CameraSport/Visionhaus.
What Neil Danns said about George Pickford
The 19-year-old has been at Southport for less than a week, but has made an excellent first impression and sounds very much like the new Jordan Pickford in the making.
Discussing how Pickford has started at Southport, Danns said: “He trained with us on Thursday. It was his first session before Saturday’s game (Hereford). Straight away you could see that he was vocal, commanding for a young lad. Speaks a lot. Even when he was off the pitch he was encouraging the players on the pitch to get tighter, close down. Straight away you can see that’s a quality he has… sometimes you see him catch a ball and he makes it look so simple.
“Really impressed with him. His first professional clean sheet, so that’s an achievement for him. Really, really excited to work with him.”
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Jordan Pickford had actually been helping Pickford at Finch Farm – working closely with the teenager to speed up his development.
The England international himself is incredibly vocal and commanding – rarely going a minute without bellowing orders on the pitch – so it seems that his young namesake is being moulded into a replica of the Everton No.1 by the Toffees.
Lukasz Fabianski offer could be a hint that Everton are keeping the number two spot free for George Pickford
Interestingly, former Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski claims Everton made him an offer last summer.
The Polish glovesman is a man of vast experience with 376 Premier League appearances, but he is now 40 years of age.
It means Fabianski – had he accepted – would surely have only been supporting Pickford as a deputy for just a season or two at most, which suggests Everton do not want to block George Pickford’s pathway.
He’s on fire this season! What should be the next step for George Pickford at Everton? 🔥
David Moyes does have Mark Travers as a backup for his main glovesman, who is under contract until July 2029 – although the offer to Fabianski suggests Everton have little faith in the former Bournemouth deputy eventually stepping up.
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