Saturday 23 December 2017 10:46, UK
Sam Allardyce has praised Jordan Pickford's "maturity" after making an impressive start to his Everton career.
The goalkeeper has appeared 25 times for the club since moving from Sunderland in the summer and is enjoying being reunited with Allardyce after working with him at the Stadium of Light.
Allardyce gave Pickford his Sunderland debut nearly two years ago in an FA Cup tie against Arsenal.
He made his Premier League against Tottenham at White Hart Lane a week later and was handed a new contract by Allardyce soon afterwards.
Speaking to the club's official website ahead of Saturday's match against Chelsea, live on Sky Sports, the Everton manager said he has been impressed by the 23-year-old's development.
"I have seen more maturity," Allardyce said. "For such a young man, he looks very mature for his age. And he still has a long way to go in terms of improvement because his talent is that big.
"That comes from gaining the experiences that he has been getting now, and for him not to think that he has made it. He can't afford to think 'maybe I can stop putting in all that work now' - now is the time to do more.
"You do much more research into goalkeeping and it is up to us to help him. It will make him a much, much better goalkeeper in the future, even though he is performing at the top level of his game at the moment. But there is still room within his potential for more."
Everton go into the match against Chelsea on the back of four clean sheets in their last six games and Allardyce has noted how Pickford commands his penalty area with a relatively young defence in front of him.
"It is difficult to find a goalkeeper who talks at that age," he joked. "Lots of players are a lot quieter than they were in my era. These days they try and play by their performances and maybe the communication is not quite as clear as it was.
"But certainly a goalkeeper at that age instructing his back four is very important."
