Jordan Pickford excelled in a short spell at Preston North End and his Everton coach Alan Kelly Jr. has explained how he ended up at Deepdale.
Cast your minds back to the summer of 2015.
PNE had just clinched promotion from League One, recovering from heartbreak at Colchester United to – somewhat uncharacteristically – blitz through the playoffs without conceding a goal.
Hometown goalkeeper Sam Johnstone had experienced an emotional success with North End but Manchester United wouldn’t let the loanee stay with PNE.
North End had to pivot to another target and pounced for Pickford, securing a season-long loan from Sunderland.
Pickford’s arrival didn’t convince everyone at first; many were so desperate for Johnstone to return and remembered Pickford conceding six against PNE for Carlisle in 2014.
Yet those doubts quickly vanished as Pickford proved to be a star in the PNE goal.
From his distribution to his shot-stopping, Pickford was just sensational for North End and it was no surprise when Sundelrand recalled him early in January 2016.
Pickford has since become a £30million goalkeeper with Everton and served as England’s clear first-choice goalkeeper for three major tournaments in a row.
PNE legend Alan Kelly has now explained to Everton’s official website just how Pickford signed for North End.
Kelly – who was PNE’s goalkeeping coach at the time and now works in that same role for Everton – admits that it was that Carlisle game which put Pickford on North End’s radar.
Despite conceding six goals, Kelly saw something ‘special’ in Pickford and urged then-PNE boss Simon Grayson to get a deal done.
It took a while for that to materialise as Pickford first spent time at Bradford, but it was worth it in the end as the 28-year-old starred for North End.
Kelly heaped praise on Pickford, highlighting his passion, honesty and hunger as key attributes the England stopper possesses, all of which Kelly saw at PNE.
“During that game I saw something special in this young goalkeeper,” said Kelly. “I thought, ‘He’s special, he’s going to be a fantastic goalkeeper.’ I spoke to Simon Grayson, who was the manager at the time, and said we should try to sign this guy. It took us a year to get him, by which time he’d been at Bradford as well.”
“I saw he took responsibility for his actions on the pitch and it was that honesty, coupled with that ability he has that we’ve all seen that makes him special. He brings a passion and an honesty to his position. Back then, we had identified he was clearly very talented as a goalkeeper, but then you bring in his passion, his hunger to do well and his willingness to learn every day — he brings that to every training session,” he added.