Everton's Jordan Pickford details 'next step' and backs himself to beat Harry Kane

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has been speaking about the importance of Everton ending their trophy drought

Jordan Pickford believes Everton should take the domestic cups seriously as they look to end their silverware drought – while backing himself to win a penalty shoot-out against Harry Kane.

The former Sunderland player, who joined the Blues from the Black Cats for £25million in 2017, has helped David Moyes’ men to back-to-back wins over old foes Newcastle United with Thierno Barry’s strike handing the side a first Premier League victory of the season on Monday. Prior to that, Everton defeated the Magpies 3-1 in a Carabao Cup tie at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Thursday to tee up a trip to Fleetwood Town next month with only the League Two outfit standing between them and a first semi-final appearance since 2015/16.

England number one Pickford is now the only member of the Three Lions’ side that played in the last European Championship final not to have won a major trophy and asked by lifelong Evertonian Roger Bennett of Men in Blazers whether lifting a cup would be important, he said: “It does matter, the club is crying out for success.

“We go into every season wanting to win a trophy. I think we all know over the last few years, how difficult it has been to stay in the Premier League but now we’ve got some stability at the club, I think it’s that next step.

“Everyone wants to win the league. Everyone wants to win every game when they’re playing, but you’ve got to be realistic.

“We know for us as players it’s ‘How do we get into Europe? How do we lift silverware?’

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“We’ve got one chance to win the Premier League, and the next level is trying to get into Europe. You’ve got two opportunities to win silverware, and you’ve got to take them seriously.”

Pickford acknowledged it was great to see his international teammate Harry Kane of Bayern Munich win the Ballon d’Or. The goalkeeper said: “I was screaming at the telly! I was buzzing for him.

“I’ve not really watched it over the years because every time it was either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. So, it was half irrelevant.

“But this year it was quite intriguing. It could have been Harry, Lamine Yamal or Kylian Mbappe, so for me it was quite interesting to watch, seeing their stories and when they’ve won stuff, talking about where they’ve come from and how much hard work they’ve had to put in.

“I think it’s a good message to all the people out in the world and all the kids growing up who want to be footballers. I think the message is more important than anything else really.”

Asked by Bennett if he’d fancy his chances against the England captain in a penalty shoot-out, Pickford said: “I’d back myself to win 5-4 because I won’t miss one and I’d fancy myself saving one against him.”

On the back of that question, the 32-year-old was then given the hypothetical scenario of a game between 11 Pickfords against 11 versions of Jack Grealish. Blues boss Moyes claimed after the 1-0 win at Newcastle United that he didn’t know whether the attacking midfielder, who has been left out of the squad for the last two matches for a disciplinary breach – understood to be not turning up for a scheduled training session – but Pickford gave a frank response to the light-hearted suggestion.

He said: “I’ve got to back myself, haven’t I? 11 Jordan Pickfords would be getting carried out of the stadium, the legs would be fatigued shall we say?

“But I’d back myself in the sense of my left foot scoring against Jack Grealish in goal. It would be relatively easy.”