Chris Kirkland revealed that he was backing Everton’s Jordan Pickford to be England’s first choice goalkeeper at the World Cup.
The former Premier League star shared that he was a huge fan of the 24-year-old and stated that he was simply amazed by how good Pickford was.
“I’m with Jordan Pickford,” said Kirkland, as quoted by talkSPORT.
“I worked with him at Preston a couple of years ago, and I was amazed at just how good he was; he actually made me feel very old watching him.
“He’s got everything – his distribution, his domination of the box, his shot stopping, everything.
“I’m a big, big fan of this, I didn’t see a weakness training with him every day.
“He is such a confident lad in his own ability; he knows he’s good, he knows he’s very good.
“He was player of the season at Preston and every game he kept the team in it, I couldn’t have been more impressed by him.”
Pickford joined the Toffees in the summer after the club paid £30million to acquire him from Sunderland, according to Sky Sports.
The goalkeeper has since made 39 appearances for the club, conceding 62 goals while keeping nine clean sheets.
Pickford currently has only one England cap to his name, and has to compete with Joe Hart, Nick Pope as well as Jack Butland for a place in Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad.
OPINION
Kirkland is clearly a huge fan of Pickford and it’s easy to see why. This season has been one that Toffees fans would rather forget, but supporters still would have been pleased with the way the 24-year-old goalkeeper has performed this season. Pickford has been one of the only summer signings to have any success at the club and few would question the club’s decision to pay £30million if you asked them now. There were doubts about whether the club had paid too much for the 24-year-old previously, but Pickford’s displays during this campaign, have proven his worth. Hopefully Southgate hears Kirkland’s comments and selects Pickford to start in Russia.