Recent events remind Everton how important it is to keep Pickford

The 2021-22 season ended last night with Real Madrid, under ex-Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti, beating Liverpool to win the Champions League final in Paris.

While obviously no doubt many Everton supporters are simply pleased that he and the Spanish giants defeated Liverpool, the real reason why that game mattered was the peformance of the Madrid keeper.

Thibault Courtois was outstanding last night producing one of the great goalkeeping performances in a final as he repeatedly thwarted Liverpool’s attack.

The former Chelsea stopper was an unbeatable last line of defence and enabled Ancelotti to play the canny, defensive strategy that worked so well in blunting the Reds before his side snatched the winning goal.

In some ways last night’s match was a little similar to how Ancelotti set the Toffees’ up when they faced Liverpool at Anfield back in February last year.

Everton were very organised in defence and sought to nulify the threat their neighbours posed with intelligent and pragmatic tactics.

That evening of course Everton finally ended over twenty years of failure at Anfield and secured a hard-fought but deserved 2-0 victory. The only regret was that there were no fans in the ground to see it live.

One of the highlights of that win was Jordan Pickford’s performance between the posts. The England number one has been in superlative form for the Blues’ in recent months and his world-class performances have been a fundamental reason why Everton survived.

And now, the former Sunderland player has just received an award for making the save-of-the-season for his miraculous effort in the 1-0 win over Chelsea.

With survivial now achieved for another season at least, there has been a huge amount of speculation about what potential transfers might take place this summer.

Several Toffees’ players have been linked with a move away including Richarlison who it’s claimed is on the radar of the new European Champions as Ancelotti is a keen admirer of the Brazilian,

While Richarlison’s future is still very uncertain, one player though who Everton really need to keep hold of is Pickford.

To be honest while I don’t want the club to lose the Brazilian forward, the one player who would probably be hardest of all to replace is Pickford.

Finding a top class goalkeeper is arguably the toughest thing to do in the transfer market and while he has his faults at times, Everton do have one of the best in the Premier League.

Hopefully, Frank Lampard is determined to keep him. Whether this might be tested if another club comes in for him with a really big offer (with Tottenham rumoured to be interested) and or, if Pickford himself decides he wants to leave.

There’s no eveidence of that at the moment, but it’s clear that other clubs will probably be looking at the England star because as last night yet again underlined, a top quality shot-stopper is essential to every successful side.