Jordan Pickford did not have to commit his future to Everton earlier this year.
The club’s biggest talent had just reaffirmed his credentials as England number one with another good World Cup campaign to add to the two previous international tournaments he had excelled in. The Blues were in chaos on and off the field and even the most optimistic supporter would have foreseen, at the very least, a second consecutive war with relegation.
Fighting at the bottom of the table is not where Pickford wants to be. It is not where he deserves to be. Yet amid the crises surrounding him, he signed a new long-term deal to keep him on Merseyside. It was a development that had been a long time coming but few would have begrudged him delaying while he waited to see how Everton’s season unfolded.
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He held the cards, an internationally-proven keeper, entering the final 18 months of his contract and with a number of Champions League-chasing clubs succession-planning for his position. Yes, a new contract gave him certainty over his own future, and whether the likes of Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur would eventually court him is unknown, but he simply did not need to sign a new deal with the club he loves while it was at its lowest ebb. And yet he did - providing incoming manager Sean Dyche with an immediate boost, a sign of encouragement that perhaps gave the new regime credibility.
Pickford does love Everton. Happy with his lifestyle and buoyed with the intimate relationship he shares with goalkeeping coach Alan Kelly - who first worked with him when he was a youngster on loan from Sunderland at Preston and who he celebrated with on the touchline after his latest top save started the move for Everton’s fourth goal at Brighton - the 29-year-old now has a box at Goodison Park. Last summer he oversaw one of the walls being decorated with a photo of him in action for the Blues so there is little doubt whose friends, family and associates sit inside on matchdays.
Pickford is now as big a presence in the Everton dressing room as he is on the wall of his hospitality box. Promoted to captain for the first time in his career by Frank Lampard late last season, he has always been a significant character but in the club's time of need has established himself as a leader.
Pickford has repeatedly captained the team since he first wore the armband at Burnley last March and Dyche, the manager he faced in that game, has retained faith in him as the backup to club captain Seamus Coleman. It is a role Pickford has embraced and his performances have emphatically backed up the trust placed in him by his two most recent bosses.
He has been in exceptional form for several years now but his heroics have taken on new significance amid Everton’s struggles. Last season, after walking out at Goodison against Chelsea to see a giant banner dedicated to him unfurled on Gwladys Street, he made several sensational stops - including the official save of the Premier League season and one of the greatest in the league’s history - when he defied physics to keep Cesar Azpilicueta at bay. The clean sheet that day protected Richarlison’s goal and gave the BLues the win that started the club’s escape from the drop. Pickford backed that up with a number of stupendous saves at Leicester City in the following game, another crucial win.
The impressive moments had continued into this campaign - early season flashpoints including his flying save from Darwin Nunez in the Merseyside derby and his reflex stop from Willian at Fulham. There had been difficult moments, too, including for the opening goal at Bournemouth as Everton were humbled in the final league game before the World Cup, but every goalkeeper has them. Pickford has remarkably few in comparison to his rivals, though, particularly when considering how much pressure he faces behind a defence that has often struggled to protect him.
In recent weeks, again as the Blues have looked at most peril, he has stepped up again. He was brilliant at Manchester United, where Everton lost just 2-0 despite facing a barrage of attacks and a record number of shots in the first half of a Premier League match. Against Newcastle United he was also excellent in defeat.
Finally, however, his performances are being used as a foundation by his team-mates. In the draw at Leicester his rival keeper Daniel Iversen won man of the match but Pickford’s penalty save from James Maddison on the stroke of half-time may go down as one of the most important in Everton’s history. Had that gone in, a Blues team that had scored fewer than any other team in England’s professional leagues would have needed to score twice to prevent a damaging defeat to a relegation rival. Pickford kept his team in it and they came away with a draw.
Then there was Brighton at the Amex Stadium on Monday. Everton’s stunning, shocking, surprising rout of Europe-chasing Albion saw the side score five goals and yet Pickford was still in contention for man of the match. Superb saves from Evan Ferguson - on multiple occasions - and Alexis Mac Allister prevented Brighton from gaining a foothold for a comeback.
Just like last year, when it really mattered, Pickford is stepping up. Having embraced his relatively new authority in the dressing room, Everton’s number one has risen above the criticism launched his way by fans of other clubs and pundits, often talking no more than nonsense, and is doing everything he can to keep his club in the top flight. In a squad short of depth, the Blues need heroes. Pickford did it last year. He is doing it again now.
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