Former England goalkeeper David Seaman has been speaking about Jordan Pickford with ex-Everton manager Sam Allardyce who gave the player his Sunderland debut
David Seaman has admitted he was blown away by watching Everton’s Jordan Pickford train on international duty. And the Arsenal legend has explained what makes England’s number one stand out ahead of his understudies, Aaron Ramsdale of Southampton and Newcastle United’s Nick Pope.
Following his heroics for Sean Dyche’s side in the goalless draw at West Ham United on Saturday, the Blues ace was again on top form in England’s 3-0 win over Greece in Athens on Thursday, making a spectacular save from Fotis Ioannidis midway through the second half when the hosts were pushing for an equaliser.
Pickford’s display forced even some of his harshest critics, including Roy Keane and Seaman’s former Gunners team-mate Lee Dixon into dramatic U-turns and sing his praises.
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But the Arsenal Invincible who was known as ‘safe hands’ during his own goalkeeping career, has explained how a trip to see England’s goalkeepers train taught him that the Goodison Park fan favourite is head and shoulders above his rivals in the talent stakes.
With 72 caps to date, Pickford has smashed the club record for the most international appearances for England while at Everton (the previous best was Phil Jagielka on 40) and is now just three behind Seaman.
Speaking on his Seaman Says podcast courtesy of Betway, the 61-year-old said: “I went up to St. George’s Park to watch the goalies train. It was Aaron [Ramsdale], Nick Pope and Jordan [Pickford].
“And Jordan was like, wow. He really impressed me up there, out of the three of them.
“Obviously I’ve seen Aaron (a former Arsenal player) train quite a bit. I’ve not seen Nick, but when I saw Jordan, he’s so fast. Really fast feet, and then his reactions were brilliant.
“When he makes that mistake, he doesn’t go thinking, ‘I’ve got to make a save or I’ve got to go and get that cross’. No, he waits for it throughout the game.”
Seaman was in conversation with former Everton manager Sam Allardyce who handed Pickford his first-team debut at Sunderland after the goalkeeper had half a dozen loan spells out at Darlington, Alfreton Town, Burton Albion, Carlisle United, Bradford City and Preston North End.
The ex-Blues boss said: “In conventional terms, everybody will say he’s not quite big enough. But the way he moves, how many steps he takes before he makes the dive – he does all that, he had a really good teacher in Martyn Margetson (England goalkeeper coach from 2016-24).
“His ability, other than his technical ability is his mental ability. His actual ability to throw away a mistake and not let it affect him again, he’ll actually get better when he makes a mistake, rather than go under.
“He comes in [to the dressing room] and before you come in, he’s gone, ‘look, I’m sorry, that was my fault’. There’s a lot to be said for that.
“When I was at Sunderland, we were struggling and I can’t remember the big goalkeeper we had. Six-foot-six but he just wasn’t doing it for me (Romania international Costel Pantilimon, who was actually 6ft 8in and the joint tallest player in Premier League history alongside Everton loan striker Lacina Traore).
“He stood in the middle of his goal and made a save and didn’t do anything else. His kicking wasn’t that great, either. His back passes, it was a struggle for him.
“They said we had this goalie on loan at Preston. I still live in Bolton, so I was picking a game out on Tuesday night at Preston so I could finish training, have a day off Wednesday, go and see the family, and go to the game on Tuesday nights to see how he was playing.
“Simon Grayson was manager then, so I just thought, ‘well, I have to bring him back in January’. I said, ‘sorry Simon, he’s got to come back’. Because of his distribution, his confidence – he just stood out.”
