Premier League legend David Seaman heaped praise on Everton goalkeeper and compared him to Liverpool shot-stopper Alisson Becker as well as Manchester City keeper Ederson.
The 55-year-old, who won England’s top-flight twice with Arsenal, shared that he was particularly impressed by Pickford’s passing ability and claimed that his distribution was better than that of Alisson and Ederson.
Seaman stated that the speed in which the Toffees keeper distributed the ball was what put him ahead of his Reds’ and Man City equivalents as it demonstrated real class.
“That passing weapon he has is so good and so threatening,” Seaman told Everton’s official website.
“It’s not just a long ball, it is so accurate – and that’s what we saw against Spain.
“It makes you go, ‘Wow’.
“When he hits it, you think, ‘Where’s this going?’, but it ends up going straight to the man that he’s aiming for. That part of his distribution is amazing.
“In the Premier League, you’ve got three guys who are really good when it comes to their distribution.
“You’ve got the two Brazilian keepers – Ederson at Manchester City and Alisson at Liverpool – but they’re not as good as Jordan is with his long passes out of his hands.
“It is the quickness with how he does it, too. As soon as he gets the ball you can see him straight away looking up and rushing to start an attack. It’s great to see. Not only does he see it, he actually executes it and does it with real class.”
OPINION
Seaman will always have a place in Premier League history due to his successful spell at Arsenal but he is very bold with his praise of Pickford. There is no denying that the Toffees have a fantastic keeper on their hands by having Pickford in their ranks but it seems very debatable whether his distribution is better than that of Alisson or Ederson. Both Brazilian shot-stoppers are fantastic when launching the ball away from their goal and successfully set their side on the attack more often than not when getting rid of the ball. While Pickford also can do this for the Toffees, it just seems like you can’t confidently say he does it better due to the speed he does it at. As all three act very fast when trying to aid their side’s attack and sometimes acting fast does see silly mistakes made. However given that Pickford is two-years younger than perhaps Seaman is right to hitch his wagon to the Toffees youngster when it comes to deciding who to go on record and praise.
