With the World Cup now over and the Premier League season about to re-start there are more stories that Everton and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford is a transfer target for Tottenham.
Pickford has allegedly been on Spurs’ radar for a while now and rumours have come and gone that they will eventually test how determined Everton are to keep hold of him.
The England number one didn’t have a particularly outstanding tounament at the recent World Cup but then he wasn’t really tested too much during England’s run to the quarter-finals.
He did though underline that despite constant and often strange media questions about him, he remains Gareth Southgste’s first choice for the national team.
And, he also made several noteworthy saves, one against Senegal early in the last sixteen match and then a superb reflex stop against France, just before they scored their second in the Three Lions’ quarter-final defeat.
Pickford has been in excellent form generally for the Blues’ so far this season and he is obviously an integral part of Frank Lampard’s plans for the remainder of this campaign, as well as presumably going forward in the future.
Tottenham’s current keeper is Hugo Lloris and the veteran French international – who has just been to a second consecutive World Cup final – has also been a solid and reliable servant for the North London club.
However, he is in his mid-thirties and Spurs’ are almost certainly looking at possible replacements as they attempt to push on and become a Champions League contender under Antonio Conte.
Pickford has eighteen months left on his current Everton deal and while he hasn’t expressed any obvious desire to leave, inevitably there will be quesitons about whether he should move on to a higher-profile and more competitive club.
Given the results prior to the World Cup starting, it does look increasingly likely that the Toffees’ will be facing another long, hard campaign when top-flight domestic football resumes on Boxing Day.
And, possibly even another relegation fight in the end, unless the club can add some genuine attacking quality and goals in the January transfer window.
If the season does go wrong again (and who’d bet against it with Everton!) then Pickford might well decide it’s time to move to pastures new as Richarlison did last summer, even if the Blues’ stay up again.
Once again this is all speculative stuff at the moment. If Pickford were to decide to leave, Everton would be in a position to command a big fee for their England international keeper. But of course, the question is could they find a stopper able to replace him?