Jordan Pickford says new ideas introduced by Everton goalkeeper coach Hugo Oliveira can help him elevate his game beyond its current towering standards.
Pickford had to play catch-up when he returned for pre-season training five weeks after the majority of his teammates following his World Cup exploits with England.
The 24-year-old quickly hit it off with Marco Silva and the manager’s staff, chiefly Portuguese Oliveira who Silva brought to Goodison Park after the pair worked together at Hull City and Watford.
Pickford has made 13 saves this season and exhibited the distribution skills and mobility which persuaded Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate to install the Everton player as his preferred goalkeeper. Pickford has completed four sweeper clearances, a figure eclipsed only by Ben Foster of Watford, and struck 28 accurate long passes.
“Working with Hugo is very good, he has brought new ideas with him – different ideas from what I have known and different working styles,” Pickford told evertontv.
“It is important for me that I am learning and adapting. That is how I can add the one or two per cent which will make a better keeper.
“I only had a couple of weeks off in the summer but when I came back I felt fresh and excited. The time off after the World Cup was important – that period when you switch off helps you later in the season when things are intense.
“But I enjoy getting on with my work. That is the type of lad I am and I just crack on.
“You want to take on board new ideas because that is how you get better as a person and a player.”
Oliveira spent five years in his homeland with Benfica and was a valuable member of the coaching team which led the twice European champions to their first domestic treble, in 2013-14 – and league titles in each of the following two seasons.
In that period he oversaw Jan Oblak’s development into one of the world’s best goalkeepers before the outstanding Slovenian was prised away by Atletico Madrid.
Oliveira also formed a successful relationship with former Brazil international Julio Cesar and was the coach who turned Ederson into Benfica’s first-choice stopper – 14 months in advance of the Brazilian’s then world-record transfer to Manchester City.
The 39-year-old was appointed to coach Portugal’s national team keepers by former manager Carlos Queiroz and went with his country to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa where Queiroz’s number one Eduardo conceded only once in four games.
Pickford was similarly impressive in the Russian finals, laying long-term claim to the England gloves with a string of high-class performances just eight months after making his Three Lions debut in a friendly clash with Germany.
The 24-year-old is set to add to his 10 caps this week, with England hosting Spain at Wembley in a Nations League encounter on Saturday, then taking on Switzerland in a friendly match at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium next Tuesday.
Pickford has started and finished all four of Everton’s Premier League matches this term, extending his record of having been on the field for every minute of top-flight football since his transfer from Sunderland in summer 2017.
“The only way I’ll get better is if I keep playing games and that is what I love doing,” said Pickford.
“I am really enjoying everything that is happening under the new manager at Everton. I am taking in everything in training.
“It is really intense but he gets across a lot of detail, too, explaining how he wants us to play. There are always different options and ways of doing things and we are all buying into what he wants to do.”
