JORDAN Pickford has told Everton he wants to STAY at the club, SunSport can reveal.
But the England number one and the Merseyside giants are deadlocked in a row over pay.
And that has alerted Manchester United and Tottenham, who are now both willing to nearly double his £100,000 wages to secure his signature.
A source told SunSport: “Jordan wants to stay at Everton.
“He loves the place, and is settled in the area he lives. But the club is not willing to meet the wage increase he is asking for.
“The player and his agent have asked Bill Kenwright and the board to at least meet them halfway.
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“But the club is only willing to offer him a few thousand a week more than he’s currently earning.
“The big problem they have is, of course, the fact that relegation is looming over their heads.
“It means they can’t be budgeting for big wage increases when they might be in the Championship in 12 months time.
“Despite the risk of going down, Jordan is still willing to commit his future to the club now.
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“He thinks he can help them get out of the mess they are in, and move forward.
“Lampard is keen to get it resolved too because he thinks it would send a message to the fans and players that they are determined to keep their best players.”
Everton are in a huge slump at present after being KOd from the FA Cup following a 3-1 defeat at United on Friday night.
They were also thumped 4-1 at home to Brighton in the Premier League the week before.
And boss Frank Lampard is now fighting for his job ahead of a crunch clash against Southampton this weekend.
But the tug-of-war over Pickford is what is alerting other Premier League clubs.
Our source added: “Manchester United and Spurs both now think they can get the player and are both willing to increase his wages by nearly £100,000 a week on top of what he already gets.
“To them, Pickford is a player who could come in for five years and be the number one, so it’s a sound investment.
“There may too still be interest from abroad, but if Jordan moves he’d prefer to stay in England because he has a young family and is settled here.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
