Leon Osman boldly claimed that Everton attacker Gylfi Sigurdsson, defender Seamus Coleman and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford were good enough to feature in the current Liverpool team.
The pundit, regularly seen on BBC’s Final Score or BBC’s Football Focus, revealed that he thought the Toffees trio were capable of playing for the Reds and that they probably weren’t the only players at Goodison Park who were.
Osman made this claim despite heaping praise on the Reds for having a”terrific” team this season which was capable of competing at the top of the Premier League.
Leon Osman names THREE Everton players that are good enough to start for Liverpool!
? Is he right..?#beINPL #EFC #LFC pic.twitter.com/HgIGKnYeeL
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) October 31, 2018
“Liverpool have a terrific team at the moment, pushing at the top of the league,” said Osman in an interview with BeIN SPORTS when asked about Everton players who were good enough for the Reds’ current team.
“Jurgen Klopp plays a certain style of football that may count against one or two of the Everton players but you look at Seamus Coleman for starters for more, fantastic right-back, Jordan Pickford, Gylfi Sigurdsson wouldn’t be far away from any team.
“That’s just off the top of my head, three players that could certainly perform and I don’t they’ll be the only ones.”
OPINION
The BBC pundit is so wide of the mark with this claim that it’s painful. While the Toffees do have some very talented players, it’s hard to imagine any of the three he named being able to make a notable impact at Anfield as it stands. Pickford is a fantastic keeper but with the Reds having Alisson between the sticks, then it’s hard to imagine him getting a game. Then there’s Coleman, who is a decent Premier League performer, but doesn’t look capable of being able to get above Joe Gomez or Trent Alexander-Arnold in the pecking order at right-back if he was indeed a member of the Reds’ squad. As for Sigurdsson, the attacking midfielder has been an inconsistent player at the Toffees and while he is capable of moments of brilliance, he’d be rooted to the Reds’ bench at best. Osman is a former Everton player so perhaps he is overrating the trio’s potential chances at the Reds if that were at the club this season, but still it’s a very bold claim to go publicly on the record with.
