HART-STOPPING MOMENT PUT

JORDAN PICKFORD was a teenage keeper with stars in his eyes when he bumped into his hero Joe Hart.

Pickford, then with Sunderland Under-18s, had idolised the Manchester City No.1 from afar and wanted to follow in his footsteps by carving out a career between the sticks.

So when Hart signed his own City shirt and handed it over to young Pickford, the Stadium of Light kid could not wait to get it framed as a source of inspiration.

Now six years later, in a twist of fate, Pickford’s goal is to take another shirt off Hart’s back and claim the Three Lions version on a permanent basis going into this summer’s World Cup in Russia.

Pickford, revealing the story of his Hart-stopping moment, said: “At Sunderland, the Under-18s had matchday jobs and two of us every home game had to clean the home dressing room. But if there was someone from the opposition I liked, at the end of the game I would stand on the stairs by the tunnel.

“I asked Joe if I could have his shirt.

“He said it was not a problem. I got his shirt, he signed it on the back and I’ve still got it framed in my house. He wrote, ‘To Jordan, best wishes, Joe Hart’.

“I was a little bit nervous asking him but you look at his pathway and I know he was signed from Shrewsbury but still played lower-league football.

“And that is the path that the staff at Sunderland sent me on.

“Now, I aspire to be the best I can be. And if that means I become England’s No.1 in Russia then I will proudly wear the badge. I want to be the best I can be