Shay Given Questions Transfer Silence Surrounding Jordan Pickford

Shay Given has seen enough elite goalkeepers to know when one is being overlooked. To him, the quiet around Jordan Pickford borders on bizarre.

Speaking courtesy of BOYLE Sports, the former Newcastle and Manchester City goalkeeper laid out the numbers and the narrative. Pickford has been at Everton for nearly a decade. He has been England’s number one for most of that stretch. He has already broken the appearance record for England in World Cup games. This is not a keeper on the fringes of the elite. This is the man Gareth Southgate keeps writing on the team sheet in ink.

And yet the transfer market barely whispers his name.

“It is strange that we haven't heard of other clubs moving in for him during that time,” Given said, capturing a sense of disbelief many in the game quietly share.

One explanation is simple: comfort. Pickford looks settled at Everton, embedded in the club’s fabric, trusted by managers and adored by a fanbase that has watched him bail them out season after season. Given floated that idea himself, suggesting that contentment on Merseyside might be part of the story.

Maybe there have been bids. Maybe conversations took place behind closed doors and went nowhere. Goalkeepers often move in chains – one big transfer triggering another, a “merry-go-round” as Given called it, with clubs scrambling to fill gaps. Some summers it feels like half of Europe’s top sides change their man between the posts.

Pickford, though, has stayed put. No carousel. No saga. Just the same blue shirt and the same role: Everton’s last line, England’s first choice.

What makes the silence even stranger is his age profile. Pickford feels like he has been around forever. Given admitted as much, saying you’d be forgiven for thinking he was 34 or 35. He is 32. For an outfield player, that might signal the start of a gentle decline. For a goalkeeper, it can be the sweet spot.

“I moved to Manchester City when I was 33,” Given pointed out, a reminder that keepers often peak later. Experience sharpens positioning, decision-making, game management. Reflexes might dim slightly, but the brain speeds up. The best learn to arrive early rather than dive late.

“He's got many years left at the top level,” Given insisted, before adding the line that will raise eyebrows in west London: “You'd think Chelsea would be on the phone tomorrow and jump at the chance to sign him if he gave them any encouragement.”

That is the nub of it. Clubs who crave stability, personality and reliability between the posts have not turned that curiosity into public pursuit. Not yet.

Given’s admiration for Pickford is rooted in the details that goalkeepers notice. He went back to a moment at St James’ Park last season, when Everton were under the cosh and Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali let fly. Pickford, reading the flight, launched himself and somehow clawed the ball over the bar.

“It was unbelievable,” Given recalled. “But he has that in his locker.”

Those saves stick in the mind, but Given’s label for Pickford might surprise some: “He’s a bit of a ‘Steady Eddie’.” Coming from a fellow professional, that is not a slight. It is the highest form of respect.

“When you've got a goalkeeper who is that steady, it's a real plus,” he said. Managers sleep better when they know exactly what they are getting from their goalkeeper. No drama. No dips. Just a consistent seven or eight out of ten, with the occasional ten when the situation demands it.

Pickford brings more than shot-stopping. His personality is impossible to miss. He plays on the edge, barking at defenders, confronting opponents, living every moment at full volume. Some critics argue that emotion spills over, that the line between passion and distraction can blur.

Given sees it differently.

“Some people say it can spill over at times, but it shows his passion and hunger and desire for the team to do well,” he said. “It's his will to win, you can't coach that or teach it. It's just who he is, and I don't mind that at all.”

In an era obsessed with ball-playing goalkeepers and Instagram-ready compilations, Pickford’s profile remains oddly underplayed. The numbers are there. The big saves are there. The international pedigree is there. So is the temperament, sharpened by years of surviving in a struggling side.

Everton know exactly what they have. The real question, as Shay Given keeps asking, is why more of Europe’s heavyweights don’t seem to be asking the same.