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SUMMER SWITCH PROVES NO PROBLEM FOR JORDAN

- By Paul Brown

JORDAN PICKFORD claims the only figure he cares about right now is how many penalties he saves.

Everton’s £30million man became the most expensive England goalkeeper in history when he clinched his record-breaking move from Sunderland this week.

But the Under-21s star insists he will NOT be fazed by the huge price tag – because he is only focused on saving pens like Linus Wahlqvist’s on Friday night.

That helped Aidy Boothroyd’s Young Lions earn a 0-0 draw with Sweden in their Euro 2017 Group A opener and put him right back in the spotlight after a huge couple of days.

Asked about his record fee, Pickford said: “It’s just a number, isn’t it? It doesn’t affect me.

“It’s my job to keep the ball out of the net and that’s what I’ve done. I’ve kept a clean sheet.

“If it goes to a shootout later in the tournament I’ll be confident going into it. But hopefully we don’t have to go to penalties and produce a bit of magic by keeping clean sheets.” Pickford has faced four penalties in the Premier League over the last two seasons and failed to save any of them. But he did stop a couple in a specially arranged shootout in a behind-closed-doors England win against Iceland just before the finals. Pickford said: “Yeah. Two of the seven. You practice but when it comes down to it you never know where the lad’s going to go. “You don’t know how confident

or nervous he’s going to be before he takes it. He might have been nervous or I might have made him change his mind.

“It’s guessing to a degree but you go with your instincts. I’ve been practising them, but big game, big moment, big save.

“It’s pot luck sometimes but yes, I was confident. I held my ground and didn’t dive until late. I’ve made that big save at the big moment. It’s what I keep saying – I make big saves.”

Pickford also revealed how Leicester full-back Ben Chilwell, who gave away the pen with a foul on Wahlqvist, thanked him afterwards for saving his bacon.

He said: “Yeah, that’s why we’re a good group. We help each other at times. I made a mistake earlier in the game when I dropped a cross but it doesn’t faze me and I go again.”

Pickford, 23, spoke to Everton boss Ronald Koeman by phone yesterday for the first time since making his big-money move to Goodison Park.

He said: “He texted me wishing me good luck before the game. I was a bit too young to see him as a player myself.

“But I heard he was a free-kick specialist and that he still takes them. I’ve heard he’s a top manager and it will be good to learn under him at Everton. It’s been a big couple of days.”

 ??  ?? EURO STAR: Jordan Pickford
EURO STAR: Jordan Pickford
 ??  ?? BIG HAND: Pickford saves from Wahlqvist
BIG HAND: Pickford saves from Wahlqvist
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