Everton pays record fee for a British goalkeeper to sign Jordan Pickford

After a couple years of struggles at the goalkeeper position, Everton has finally spent big money on what they hope will be a decade-long solution. The Toffees have paid Sunderland £25 million plus a potential £5 million in add-ons for the services of 23-year-old Jordan Pickford.

Pickford joined Sunderland when he was just 8 years old and started going out on loan to gain professional experience when he was 17. He made his debut for the Black Cats’ first team in the 2015-16 season, then became their first-choice goalkeeper during the most recent campaign. While Sunderland was relegated, Pickford earned rave reviews for his performances in goal and was the biggest factor in Sunderland staying within reach of safety for as long as they did.

With Sunderland going down, Pickford was always likely to find a landing spot in the Premier League. The Toffees will be thrilled that Sunderland’s struggles have made it easier to sign a very good goalkeeper, while Sunderland will be happy to have received a big fee early in the transfer window as they attempt a complete squad makeover.

If there was one thing preventing Everton from mounting a serious challenge to the “Sky Six,” it was poor play at the goalkeeper position. Maarten Stekelenburg and Joel Robles both had multiple seasons below Premier League starting standard coming into last year, and they were not any better than expected.

Though Pickford is still young and relatively inexperienced for a goalkeeper, his performances for Sunderland and England Under-21 suggest that he is both ready to play for a top-half team and still improving.

Pickford is slightly undersized by elite goalkeeper standards at 6’1, but he had no problem claiming crosses and set pieces last season. His distribution is also much better than the goalkeepers he’s replacing at Everton.

Pickford’s transfer fee is the most ever paid for a British keeper and the third-highest of all time, behind Gianluigi Buffon and Manchester City’s new goalkeeper, Ederson Moraes. Everton had to pay more to sign him than Bayern Munich paid for Manuel Neuer or Manchester United paid for David De Gea.

But those were different times and different markets. The only real comparisons we have for Pickford are the two fees recently paid by City, for Ederson and Claudio Bravo. Ederson, like Pickford, is 23. He’s played more first-division games than Pickford, but has only spent one season as Benfica’s first-choice goalkeeper. He cost £35 million. Bravo was 33 when he signed for City, cost £17 million, and played very poorly.

If Everton’s scouts rate Pickford’s performances from last season as being on par with the Premier League’s top keepers, they appear to have gotten a decent deal in the current market.

There aren’t a lot of top goalkeepers that move every season, but Pickford looks unlikely to be the last one. It’s not clear if Real Madrid is satisfied with Keylor Navas, while Gianluigi Donnarumma has yet to sign a new contract with AC Milan. Liverpool has money to spend and is probably on the lookout for a new keeper. Pickford’s deal has helped to set the market, and could inform what — for example — Bayer Leverkusen might demand for Bernd Leno. And you can be sure that if Donnarumma is sold, Milan will be asking for at least double Pickford’s price.