Thomas Tuchel Confirms Whether Everton's Jordan Pickford is Number 1

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford might have to share the gloves with Leeds' James Trafford once again over the next few days.

The final international break of 2026 is upon us, with England set to face both Croatia and Spain before the end of the week. 

England's first game against Croatia comes on Thursday night, and Pickford will be hoping to be between the sticks for his country. During the October camp, Tuchel split the four games between Trafford and Pickford, with the two goalkeepers starting two games each.

This was a surprise to many simply because Pickford has been number one for so long, but there was always going to come a time when someone provided genuine competition.

At the moment, Trafford is doing just that: performing well for Leeds as he finally gets regular game time in the Premier League.

Now, Tuchel has spoken about the competition between the two players. 

When asked whether Pickford has lost his status as England's number one, Tuchel was clear with his answer.

“No, he is. But nothing has changed. The competition is on there as well, like for the outfield players. Traff gets regular starts now, that’s what we wanted. James Trafford did well. They shared the matches last time. I’m not sure what we will do. There’s an opportunity that we maybe do this again. I have to speak with our goalkeeper coach. But the goalkeepers, they are a bit of a unit for themselves, and rightly so.”

Tuchel admits that there is a possibility that the two goalkeepers could split the minutes over the coming days. This is no surprise, as the England boss looks to assess who is going to be his number one for Euro 2028.

Tuchel has admitted, though, that Pickford is the number one goalkeeper right now. If there was a tournament in the next few months, you'd imagine the Everton goalkeeper would be between the sticks.

Explaining his reasoning behind the two goalkeepers sharing the minutes, Tuchel said:

“It’s slightly different (to outfield players), but when do I have a chance to see another goalkeeper, if not in Nations League? If not in high-pressure matches? So, we had James against Spain, we asked ourselves, ‘Is this fair for James Trafford to straightaway go against Spain?.

“But I think it’s exactly what we need because what happens if Jordan Pickford is injured? What happens if he’s not available? 

“So, it’s better to test it. Jordan knows about this. That we want to use Nations League for exactly that.

“But at the moment, nothing has changed. At the moment, he’s the number one and he just feels a bit of competition, which is good for him.”

It's certainly fair, from Tuchel's point of view, that he needs to test whether Trafford is ready. If Pickford was to suffer an injury right now, Tuchel needs to know whether Trafford's the right man to replace him.

Pickford has been England's number one for so long now, never letting down his country over the years. Despite plenty of calls for different goalkeepers to replace him, they've all failed to do so, but it does feel likely that Trafford will replace him one day.

Speaking about his conversation with Pickford when he decided to make the decision to rotate the goalkeepers, Tuchel said he was impressed and surprised by his reaction.

 “I was very impressed and a bit surprised by his reaction when we spoke to him. I thought he’d be less of a fan than he proved to be because he said he totally understands it. He impressed me a lot last time. We spoke to him, it was a very short conversation. It was very positive."

Tuchel added that Pickford seemed very keen for the idea, suggesting that Trafford deserves the chance and he will push him.

“He said, ‘Yeah, let’s do this, Traff deserves it and I will push him’. And he didn’t change at all.

“If he changed, he changed even to the positive, he pushed Traff, he gave him a good feeling. So very impressive, he did it very well.”

It shows an awful lot about Pickford's character in how he reacted to the decision from Tuchel. Nobody would have expected Pickford to kick off or cause problems, but it was still an admirable way to react.

Pickford didn't just accept the decision and move on. He stressed that it was to show that Trafford deserves it, and he wanted to push him to become a better goalkeeper. Pickford knows that his time with England will be coming to an end fairly soon due to his age, and he's clearly looking to ensure that his country are in good hands.