Everton contingent make England squad

England manager Gareth Southgate announced his squad for the upcoming Nations League games and two Everton players are back in the squad.

Those Everton players are goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and centre-back Michael Keane. Both make it into Southgate’s squad, as the England boss prepares for his upcoming games against Iceland and Denmark.

Pickford’s inclusion really is a little bizarre. The Blues keeper had a dreadful campaign last season. He was erratic, inconsistent and made a raft of errors, largely due to a lack of concentration, that let his team down and cost Everton points. Surely Southgate has seen the tapes?!

If there was a viable long-term alternative, I wouldn’t have him as the Toffees number one or even possibly in the first-team squad, never mind the national team’s.

Although I don’t think Everton will be able to find an alternative, perhaps a late loan deal for someone like Romero might come off and give the Blues that option, who knows.

I don’t know if Pickford will start either of these games as he’s been Southgate’s number one for a long time. But there are surely more deserving candidates, in particular the Manchester United keeper Dean Henderson who’s coming off an excellent season on-loan at Sheffield United.

Keane’s inclusion is a little more interesting. It seems to me that he’s probably back in because of Harry Maguire’s troubles in Greece. which have seen him convicted of various charges in a Greek court. They are similar types both being robust, powerful and very strong in the air but not the quickest so I can’t see them lining up together.

The Toffees centre-back actually had a decent campaign overall in 2019-20. He lost his partner from the back end of the previous season when Kurt Zouma returned to Chelsea after they had established a good understanding together.

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Then he was playing once more in a struggling team, with several different partners, Yerry Mina, Mason Holgate and finally Jarrad Branthwaite, which never helps, but was still reasonably solid and fairly consistent.

So it maybe he’s thinking that if Maguire was to be adversely affected by his off-field troubles then Keane would be the fall back option..?

Talking of centre-backs and the Blues are supposedly back in the hunt for another, with stories surfacing again that Everton will try and bring in Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori.

The young Englishman is a player the Toffees wanted at the end of last summer’s transfer window when the club’s protracted attempts to get Zouma back were thwarted by the Stamford Bridge club.

Now it seems the Blues are again being linked with a move for him, presumably on loan for the upcoming season.

Tomori is a good young defender, quick and strong, who would I think make a useful addition to Everton’s central defensive options. Let’s see if anything comes of this one.