Sunderland captain John O’Shea is confident that the Premier League will not faze Jordan Pickford. The young goalkeeper signed a new deal yesterday which runs up until the summer of 2020.

Stellar start

Despite Pickford’s rise to fame and encouraging debut, boss Sam Allardyce has insisted that Vito Mannone is his number one 'keeper and the youngster will be used as back-up for now.

The academy product made his debut in the FA Cup away to Arsenal and instantly impressed Sunderland fans with ‘Jordan Pickford, he’s one of our own’ ringing around the away end.

Allardyce was that impressed with Pickford’s performance that he rewarded him with a Premier League start at White Hart Lane. Although the Black Cats lost 4-1 to Tottenham Hotspur, Pickford delivered yet another good performance and particularly impressed with his precise distribution.

O'Shea impressed

O’Shea believes that the U21 England international has what it takes to make it in the Premier League.

The skipper said, “His temperament won’t be a problem to him at all. The manager will manage how he copes with things.”

He added, “But he’s had no problem with putting him in at Arsenal or Tottenham for games like that."

O'Shea says that is all anyone "need[s] to know about his temperament", admitting it is "top class”.

The youngster has been training with Sunderland’s first-team for some time now and the rest of the squad noticed his talent immediately.

Jordan Pickford impressed massively while on loan with Preston. Image credit: Lanchasire Post
Jordan Pickford impressed massively while on loan with Preston. Image credit: Lanchasire Post

High expectations

The boyhood Sunderland fan got a chance to showcase his talent with a loan spell to Preston North End and he did just that. The stopper broke the club record for the amount of consecutive cleansheets and kept 13 in total, in the 27 games he played.

O’Shea said, “After seeing him in pre-season and seeing how hungry he was with the talent he had and being a local lad, we knew his talent.”

The youngster has already played over 100 league games at the tender age of 21 and O’Shea continued, “The manager obviously kept an eye on him and he’s been confident enough to let Costel head down to Watford and have the competition now between Vito and Jordan."

O'Shead did say that Mannone's experience "will be vital" for the remainder of the season, but believes Pickford has "been a breath of fresh air" and that he will "go from strength to strength without a doubt".

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About the author
Eve Sayers
Sports journalism in Leeds. Write for A Love Supreme, Vavel and Give Me Sport.