Moyes admits Pickford exit fears

David Moyes admits Sunderland may struggle to hold on to highly-rated goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

Pickford, 22, has been called up to two senior England squads since displacing Vito Mannone as Sunderland's first-choice No 1, and Moyes admits the Black Cats may struggle to hold on to the Washington-born goalkeeper should Liverpool, Tottenham or Manchester United make a bid during the January transfer window.

“I hope it won’t be too difficult [to resist a bid]," he said.

“But sometimes on the journey of building clubs up, these things happen."

Moyes accepts that he need to raise funds to rebuild the squad at the Stadium of Light, and the former Everton boss recognises the parallels with Wayne Rooney, whose £27m sale to Manchester United in 2004 helped secure the Toffees' financial future.

"I can only tell the story from Everton because Wayne was the same," he continued.

"We got a big offer from Manchester United, we fought, I was saying that we were not selling, but ultimately, the sale helped us try and do the right things after that and we needed it.

"While you are rebuilding on the journey, if you bring players in and they do really well, some of the big clubs want them, then that’s different.

"The difference is that Jordan is one of our own homegrown players and we certainly wouldn’t be in a hurry to do it. But if he keeps performing at the level he is, I’m sure he’s going to draw attention from big clubs.

"It might be difficult but I would hope it [raising money] wouldn’t be necessarily through Jordan. But we are going to look at how we are going to do it."

Moyes has encouraged Mannone, who lost his first-team place in August following an elbow injury, to work hard in training to keep the pressure on Pickford.

"I’ve spoken with Vito and said that this is sometimes how football works," the Scot continued.

"Injuries allow people to get in or out. Jordan’s come in and started well but Vito’s there to push him and get in the team, to push him hard and if it goes wrong for Jordan or he slips up or lets any of this get to his head in any way, then I’ve got somebody else who can take his position."

Photo (@Getty Images/ Michael Regan)

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