Jordan Pickford reaffirms desire to stay at Everton next season

Jordan Pickford has reaffirmed his desire to stay at Everton and help move the club towards brighter times.

The England goalkeeper has been linked with a move away this summer but insists he's staying around despite the club's need to rebalance the squad amid financial fair play concerns.

Pickford, who has already returned to pre-season training, is recognised as one of Everton's most valuable assets but when asked if he will still be at the club next season, he replied: “Definitely. I've just signed a new contract and I'm happy and my family is happy so now we just want to move forward as a club.”

Last season's battle against relegation left those at the club concerned for the future and Pickford told The Athletic that improvements needed to be made in 2023-24 after surviving in the Premier League on the final day of the season.

“We should never have been in that position,” he said at Royal Liverpool Golf Club ahead of next week's Open Championship.

“We lost a lot of games that we shouldn't have ever lost, or we had chances where we should have taken points from more games. It was our own fault that we ended up in that position. But it does show the type of characters we are to get out of that situation.”

“We need to knuckle down and work hard on the training pitch.”

One benefit, Pickford believes, is that manager Sean Dyche will have a full pre-season to work with the players.

When asked if new players are needed to boost the squad, the 29-year-old added:

“I think the manager would like (to make more signings) that. I'm not the manager, but I think we have a good squad.

”In the Premier League, you always want to get better and move forward and in the right direction. As a team, you always want to be stronger and if that means new signings to help us become better, then that is ideal.”

(Photo: Getty Images)