Gary Neville backs Everton ‘keeper Jordan Pickford to be England number one
Gary Neville has backed Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to keep his England number one jersey despite the club’s poor results this season.
Pickford has been the number one for the Toffees since joining the club back in 2017 and in that time has become the first choice for England too, despite constant criticism of his performances.
Neville, who was doing a Q&A on Skysports.com, was asked by a fan who England’s number one should be for the Qatar World Cup later this year and backed the Everton ace, despite the club’s poor form and Aaron Ramsdale’s rise at Arsenal.
“You have to go with Jordan Pickford, because I think his England performances have been very good to be fair, generally over three or four years,” he said.
“I’m not saying it’s always been great for Everton – sometimes it has, but his form for England I think is very good and he suits England, the way the game is played at international level and his distribution from the back.
“He’s got a good rapport, his form has been better with England, better than I thought it ever would be and I don’t think he deserves to lose his space yet even though Aaron Ramsdale is doing an absolutely brilliant job at Arsenal.”
Character
Pickford has come under criticism a lot during his tenure with Everton and even before that with Sunderland, but he’s always shown character to come back from it.
The same can be said with England, as he has been the man between the posts at the last two major tournaments and helped them to a semi-final and then a final.
It’s normal that the question of his place would come up again with the Blues battling against relegation, but that’s by no fault of his own.
In fact, you could make the argument that he has been one of the club’s better performers this season despite their results and probably deserves his place as England’s number one more now than ever.
Obviously getting relegated could change his place with the team, or he could even leave Everton, but right now Neville is right and that place should be Pickford’s to lose.
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