Everton pay £30m for Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford

Everton have reportedly agreed a deal to sign Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford for £30m, making the 23-year-old the third most expensive keeper in history.

Although he only made his Sunderland first team debut in January 2016 and has just 32 Premier League appearances to his name, the shot-stopper is now in the same price bracket as Italy and Juventus icon Gianluigi Buffon. He will leapfrog Germany stopper Manuel Neuer, who only cost Bayern Munich £19m in 2011, on the list of the world's most expensive keepers.

"Pickford impressed in 29 top-flight appearances last season but could not prevent Sunderland being relegated," reports the BBC. "He joined the Black Cats' academy in 2010 and had spells out on loan at Darlington, Alfreton Town, Burton Albion, Carlisle United, Bradford City and Preston."

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Earlier this summer, Manchester City broke the world record transfer fee for a keeper when it paid Benfica £34.7m for Ederson, who is also 23. Until that deal went through Buffon had been the world's most expensive shot-stopper for 15 years.

The deals could mark a sudden escalation in the value of goalies, who have rarely changed hands for more than £10m. In 2014 Jan Oblak moved to Atletico Madrid for a mere £12.7m. Last summer Barcelona paid Ajax £12.8m for Jasper Cillessen, they bought him after City paid £17m for Claudio Bravo – that is less than half the fee for Ederson a year later.

"With Joe Hart and David de Gea potentially on the move in the next couple of months, this could finally be the summer when a whole host of goalkeepers become the subject of some big money deals," says the Daily Mirror. However, the news could have an impact on Hart's future as Everton had been mooted as a possible destination for the unwanted Man City keeper. He will now have one less option as he looks for a new club.