Former Everton manager Sam Allardyce has revealed that former Director of Football Steve Walsh attempted to sign Jordan Pickford when he was working for Leicester City.
Pickford didn’t make his debut for home-town club Sunderland until January 2016, but only made 31 appearances for the Black Cats before the switch to Merseyside in June 2017.
Pickford was the third most expensive keeper of all time when he was signed by Everton , but is now the fifth highest after Liverpool and Chelsea signed Alisson Becker and Kepa Arizzabalaga for big money fees.
Speaking to the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast on TalkSport, Allardyce said: “I brought him back from (a loan spell at) Preston (in January 2016). He had a few games and we got offered an awful lot of money from Steve Walsh at Leicester,
"It was no surprise when Walsh was director at Everton (that Pickford moved to Goodison Park). There’s not a better young goalkeeper around in Europe right now.”
Walsh joined Everton as Director of Football in July 2016 after Leicester’s title-winning season and got his wish when he signed Pickford the following summer.
Walsh only stayed in his role for two years as he was sacked in May 2018 and replaced by current Director of Football, Marcel Brands.
Pickford, now 25 has started this season with two clean sheets after ten in 2017/2018 and fourteen in 2018/2019.
The Everton shot-stopper will be hoping for a third clean sheet of the season when Everton face Aston Villa on Friday - who have scored in both of their matches during their Premier League return.
