Jordan Pickford has signed a new deal with Everton. The 31-year-old has put pen to paper on a four-year contract that will extend his stay on Merseyside beyond a decade.

It is the latest boost for the club and manager David Moyes, who quickly identified the defensive axis of Pickford and centre backs James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite as being integral to his efforts to pull Everton away from successive years of relegation battles and towards competing for Europe. All three have now penned extensions.

Pickford signed off on the new deal, reported by the ECHO earlier this week, after returning to Finch Farm from another successful international stint with England. He kept clean sheets in the wins over Wales and Latvia to retain his grip on the number one jersey heading towards the World Cup next summer.

In the win in Riga on Tuesday he made his 80th appearance for England and extended his record run of consecutive games without conceding a goal to nine matches.

It was during coverage of that match that former Arsenal defender Lee Dixon, while commentating for ITV, questioned why Pickford - who, as England number one since 2018 has...