Everton Football Club are investigating a video that appears to show one of their players, Jordan Pickford, involved in a fight outside a bar.
The 25-year old goalkeeper appeared to be involved in a mass brawl in Sunderland city centre. It was believed that he was there after watching his former club playing in the Checkatrade Trophy final against Portsmouth.
The video appears to show an intoxicated Pickford, who went to the bar after watching the game, being goaded by Sunderland fans and then getting into a brawl before being pulled away from the scene by two friends, as members of the public intervened.
Pickford is also seen holding a bottle of Spirits with a drinks stain down his top. An eye witness told The Sun online; “Jordan at one point had his top off and had been shouting. He had been in the River Bar earlier that day, walking around like he was a big shot and driving around in his Lamborghini outside the front”.
The Everton and England shot-stopper joined the club from boyhood team Sunderland in June 2017 for £30million and is often mocked in his hometown, despite making 35 appearances for the black cats before joining the Toffees.
Pickford signed for Sunderland in 2011, when he was just 17. However, he was loaned to 6 different clubs before establishing himself as a first-team regular in the 2016/17 season, as he began to make a name for himself.
Despite the team being relegated, his individual standout performances caught the eyes of Everton, who signed him. He has been the national team’s default goalkeeper for the past 2 years and was number one at the FIFA World Cup in Russia, as England made the semi-finals.
Pickford played less than 24 hours before the incident. He kept a clean sheet as Everton defeated West Ham 2-0 at the London Stadium to move above the Hammers and into the top half of the Premier League table.
Former England manager Sam Allardyce, who managed Pickford during his short stint as Everton manager was asked on his thoughts regarding the incident on TalkSPORT during a radio interview.
Sam Allardyce
“Jordan’s character is that he likes to go out occasionally, but what he has to do is choose better places to go because there’s only one loser in situations like this, and that’s himself.”
It is unclear what repercussions the goalkeeper who lives in Altrincham, Cheshire will face. In a press statement released last night, the Premier League side said: “The club has been made aware of an alleged incident involving one of our players and we are looking into the matter”
But the keeper, who won Everton’s player of the season award last year could be looking at disciplinary action.
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