Give this lad whatever he wants. Match whatever any club offers. He is a special commodity. The interest, come the end of the season or even January, for Jordan Pickford, will be through the roof.
Granted because he's English his talent may be a little overstated, but for once this will be a good thing. I feel g
oalkeepers are a very underrated, lesser thought of player. At times they are not valued in the same way as say, a world class striker, and this can be proven in the actual monetary valuation of goalkeepers. The world record transfer tumbles every time a new window opens, and we all know we're not far from that 100 million pound player (it's just a matter of when) but all these records have been set by outfield players with strikers, midfielders and PSG alone cranking up the prices of a few Centre Backs in recent years. When was the last time a goalkeeper went for a eye watering, media stormed, fan talking point price mark ? The answer being 15 years ago, £33 million for the household name of Gianluigi Buffon. How in that time has no club spent more or equal to that amount on a shot stopper, a last line of defence? The one player who sees the whole picture unfold infront of him? It is e only real, pure specialist position. It's a strange one to answer. At this moment in time, in my opinion, there are four young goalkeepers that I rate highly in the world, two of which are English and two Italians.
The two English keepers being the main man in the article, Jordan Pickford and the other being Jack Butland who's stock had risen tenfold in the past two seasons, but then somewhat diminished due to what seems to be the curse of a International cap and a injury to suit. I don't think reasons are needed for why I consider these two top goalkeepers because their performances on the pitch easily do that for me.
The two Italians in question are Gianluigi Donnoruma (supposedly named after Gigi Buffon) and Mattia Perin. Granted, at 24 he's not the youngest but he's a talented player and a Goalkeepers traditionally get better with age, sometimes peaking well into their thirties and beyond.
I don't think Perin will initially make tremors in the transfer market but I do feel that in coming seasons, he'll become a highly sought after player. As for Donnoruma, he has more than enough potential to match or even surpass the fee paid for Buffon, and I feel if Pickford and Butland's current clubs act and give them lengthy contracts to squeeze that extra 5-10 million out of any club wishing to have a sniff around their players, they could also get close to or near the fee paid for an iconic goalkeeper, who's trophy cabinet is full through his own ability, dedication and performances.
So that's why I say to Sunderland AFC, don't sell Jordan Pickford. To Stoke City, don't sell Jack Butland. Using Sunderland, as an example of why a keeper is an underrated member of many squads, think back to when they last had a good season. A season the fans couldn't groan, toil and agonies over. I would say it was the 2010-11 season and the year after, the 2011-12 season, finishing 10th and 13th respectively. Those two seasons they had a frontman who could score goals for fun in Darren Bent, but at the opposite end, the man who was entrusted in preventing goals was Simon Mignolet. The club got two fantastic seasons from him and Bent gave the Stadium of Light something to shout about. Yes Bent's efforts were seen as more rewarding but we shouldn't underestimate the goals that didn't find the back of the net at the other end of the pitch. When these guys left the club, one for £24 million and the other for £9m, one joined a side far better than Sunderland, and the other far worse. You would think looking at numbers and such that the better team laid the £24 million and the lesser team the £9 million, when in fact, Mignolet joined Liverpool, a team who has had massive domestic success and leading European pedigree and the other club being Aston Villa, who have since been relegated and cut ties with Darren Bent by letting him join Derby County on a free transfer. Mignolet remains at Liverpool. Granted he's been asked to play slightly differently and has shown to be slightly lacking with the ball at his feet, but when people talk about him they never bring in to question his ability to make that instinctive, important save. Yet this ability to keep teams from losing games is consistently undervalued.
I feel that at the moment Jordan Pickford will stop Sunderland losing games which is obviously beneficial to the club. Pickford is an asset, one that can't be lost and shouldn't be lost, and for that any wage demands he may make in the future should be met. After a 95th minute wonder stop against the Champions Leicester recently, his first thought wasn't to take a little tap on the shoulder from his highly paid defenders, no, it was his natural reaction to turn and scream a rallying cry to his people, his Sunderland fans, his fellow supporters, the adoring paying public, and I feel the club should give him what he'll give back to us, rubber stamping his immediate future. He possesses all of the attributes to be an England Number one and because he will now have his mind set on it, Sunderland just need to give him a weekly platform to show whoever is in charge every other year at England why a young lad from Washington should be protecting the goal posts of his country, as well as his hometown club.
Who knows? Manchester City will try to sign him to meet their Quota for English players, as seems fashionable these days. Liverpool may sign him to replace our last good shot stopper. Arsenal may sign him and leave him playing third fiddle behind their two existing top goalkeepers and Chelsea may sign him simply because they can. Not that they need too. So for his career and Sunderland's long term future, Jordan Pickford needs to stay.
He needs to stay at 'home'.
Ryan Coxon
